MESA, Ariz. – Senior Emery Range (Grand Rapids, MI/Willow Canyon), sophomore Willie McCray (Clovis, NM/Clovis/Westwind Prep Academy ) and freshman Eddie Giron (Monterrey, Mexico/Harmony Science Academy) combined for 36 points to try and help lead the Western New Mexico University men's basketball team back against Benedictine-Mesa, but it wasn't enough as the Redhawks led from start to finish in claiming the 81-68 victory Tuesday night.

Benedictine-Mesa, an NAIA school that competes in the Cal Pac Conference, improves to 5-7 overall as they countered the three in double-figures by WNMU (1-9) to post four in double-digits paced by 21 from Monnard Brown.

Brandon Dixon started the scoring for Ben-Mesa as he hit a three nearly two minutes in. Junior Latrell Spivey (Phoenix, AZ/Westview) put the Mustangs on the board at the 17:38 mark with a jumper. Spivey just missed out on a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds.

McCray tied the game at four as he hit two from the charity stripe. After that, the Redhawks used a 7-0 run to keep a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Despite not leading the rest of the way, WNMU fought back several times.

Giron had the deficit back to three near the midway point of the half when he nailed a jumper.

It would be all Ben-Mesa the rest of the way, outscoring the Mustangs by 13 from that point on to take a 37-21 lead into the locker rooms.

The Redhawks took advantage of points in the paint (20-8), points off turnovers (12-4), second-chance (6-3) and bench points (14-1) through the first 20 minutes.

Ben-Mesa had the lead to their largest of the night at 23, 59-36, with 11 minutes to go in the game, but WNMU made things interesting over the next several minutes.

Freshman CJ Vanbeekum (Phoenix, AZ/Paradise) hit two from the line and after he hit a jumper, sophomore Daniel Van Den Kerkhof (New Zealand) made a jumper before freshman Alex Gonzalez Alvarez (Madrid, Spain/Xperia Zentro San Jorge) dialed long distance to trim the lead down to just 10 at 59-49 with 8:43 to play.

Range stepped back to hit his own long ball with 2:37 to play to leave the Mustangs down just eight. After Giron hit two from the line a minute later to cut the deficit back to eight, the Redhawks went on a quick 5-0 run to put the game out of reach.

In addition to the strong scoring games by Range, McCray and Giron, sophomore Jordan Enriquez (El Paso, TX/Bel Air ) posted nine along with Spivey and Vanbeekum added eight. Spivey and McCray each dished out two assists, Enriquez and redshirt freshman Trevin Ramirez (Carlsbad, NM/Carlsbad) sent back a block and both Spivey and Range came away with two steals.

While Brown led the way for the Redhawks in scoring, Richie Thornton added 15, Troy Conley with 13 and Jorge Cano with 12. Former Mustang Carter Aby (San Tan Valley, AZ/Combs) led all-players with nine rebounds.

Ben-Mesa shot well from the field making 30-59 (51), 8-17 (47) from three, but struggled from the line connecting on just 13-31 (42). WNMU countered making 21-56 (38) from the field, 3-13 (23) from distance and 23-33 (70) at the foul line.

WNMU ended up coming back to tie Ben-Mesa on points in the paint (34-34) and points off turnovers (14-14), while holding a slight 10-9 edge on second-chance points.

WNMU will remain in the Phoenix area to play Arizona Christian tomorrow (Wednesday) night at 7:30 p.m.