SILVER CITY, N.M. – Sophomore Jordan Enriquez (El Paso, TX/Bel Air ), junior Latrell Spivey (Phoenix, AZ/Westview) and freshman Eddie Giron (Monterrey, Mexico/Harmony Science Academy) combined for 51 points, but it wasn't quite enough as New Mexico Highlands University held off the Western New Mexico University men's basketball team thanks to a mid-second half spurt to claim the 77-70 non-conference victory Friday night.

Enriquez tallied 21 points on 4-12 shooting, where he made his money on the night came at the foul line going 13-16. He also added five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Spivey went for his customary double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds, in addition to two assists, a block and two steals. Giron went for 15 points on 7-14 shooting with five rebounds and one assist, block and steal.

Like in the games before, three-pointers hurt the Mustangs (1-3) as they went just 2-18 (11) from downtown and 23-63 (37) for the game. NMHU (1-2) didn't do a ton better, making the same amount from the field 23-62 (37), but converted 10-26 (39) from three-point range. Each team struggled at the charity stripe with NMHU making 21-35 (60) and WNMU at 71 percent (22-31). James Healy had little trouble finding his stroke for the Cowboys drilling seven long balls on his way to a game-high 27 points.

It was a slow start for both teams with NMHU eventually moving in front 10-4 four minutes into the game. WNMU moved in front at the 8:44 mark when Enriquez connected on a jumper on the fastbreak and was followed by a layup in transition by redshirt freshman Trevin Ramirez (Carlsbad, NM/Carlsbad) to take an 18-15 lead.

The lead reached five with 6:44 to go before the break when senior Brandon Williams (Long Beach, CA/Los Angeles Prep) dialed long distance for the 21-16 advantage. The lead remained at five a few more times, with the last coming at 29-24 on a pair of foul shots by Enriquez.
The Cowboys closed the half on a 7-2 run to come back and tie the game at 31 all at halftime.

Spivey and Enriquez helped ignite the start to the second half with four points to boost WNMU out to the 35-31 lead. NMHU began to chip away and they regained the lead with 12:44 to play when Healy hit another one of his three-pointers for the 44-42 lead.

Giron trimmed the deficit back to four with a jumper in the paint near the midway point of the second stanza, just to watch NMHU bust out to their biggest lead of the night. Following Giron's hoop, the Cowboys rode an 11-3 run to move to their largest lead of the night at 11, 64-53, with 5:23 to play.

You would think the game appeared to be over, but the Mustangs still had plenty of fight left in them.

Senior Emery Range (Grand Rapids, MI/Willow Canyon) converted a three-point-play with three minutes to go to cut the lead down to six and later a McCray fastbreak layup and two foul shots from Enriquez suddenly had WNMU within three at 71-68 with 36 seconds to play.

Chris Clark, Jr. converted two big foul shots for NMHU and then Marlon Johnson picked a good spot for another block when he sent back McCray's layup attempt on the ensuing possession to all but seal the victory after Healy hit two more free throws.
For Johnson, that was his third block on the night, as he also came away with a double-double posting 11 points and 14 rebounds.

WNMU held the edge on points off turnovers (18-15) and points in the paint (32-24). NMHU held the big edge on fastbreak points (16-8) and slight edge on bench points (12-7).

The Mustangs will now be off for the Thanksgiving holiday before returning to action on Tuesday, Nov. 29 with a rematch against New Mexico Highlands in Las Vegas starting at 7 p.m.