Silver City, N.M. – The Mustangs Men's Basketball team return home for the first time since the beginning of the New Year. Lone Star Conference play make its way to Drag's Court with a rivalry match against the Greyhounds of Eastern New Mexico Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Then #5 ranked West Texas A&M Buffs come to town for a Saturday afternoon contest, scheduled for 4 p.m. MST.
LAST TIME OUT:
After claiming a pair of wins back in mid-December, the Mustangs have put up a valiant effort but haven't been able to put it together on both sides of the ball. Coming back from the holiday break, WNMU traveled to Lubbock Christian and Angelo State for the first games of the 2020 calendar year.
Against LCU, the Chaps offense was efficient scoring above a .500 clip in all categories in the first half. Things picked up for the visiting Mustangs, only scoring three less than the home team in the second half but the deficit was a bit too large to overcome as LCU took a 90-58 win.
CJ Vanbeekum (Phoenix, AZ/Paradise) and
Rodney Simon (Boston, MA/Randolph ) each registered nine points along with four rebounds.
The score didn't fall in favor of the Mustangs against Angelo State, but looking at the box score it should have been a tight game. At the half, ASU had 19 opportunities at the charity stripe while WNMU had zero. On the night, the Mustangs were 33-of-64 (51%) from the floor, 11-of-23 (47%) and just 2-of-2 from the line. Though perfect in second chance shots at the line, ASU had twenty more chances at the free throw line than the Mustangs, ultimately making the 13 point difference in the final score.
EAST MEETS WEST—Jan. 22, 1935 in Silver City, N.M. was the first matchup between Eastern New Mexico and Western New Mexico men's basketball. Over a 100 games have been played between the two, and Thursday will make the 103
rd overall with ENMU leading 56-46. Western was victorious back on Feb. 6, 2018 on Drag's Court, but it was ENMU who swept the series last season.
A team that went 13-14 overall last season, is 3-8 overall and an even 3-3 in conference play. After starting the season 0-9, the Greyhounds have found a little bit of success within the last month or so, grabbing wins over St. Mary's, UAFS and Oklahoma Christian. Their most recent loss came to western's second opponent this weekend in West Texas A&M. Falling by just five, junior guard Jose Serrano led the team with 16 points, going 6-of-9 from the field to go along with five boards and a block. On the season Serrano averages 7.8 points per contest, shooting at a .453 clip on the floor, .412 behind the arc and .700 at the stripe.
SCOUTING THE BUFFS:
Fifth in the recent NABC Coaches Poll with a 13-1 record overall, and 5-1 in league play, the Buffs lone loss came back on Dec. 12 to then #12 St. Edward's in pretty decisive fashion. Since then the leading scoring offense in the Lone Star Conference has won four straight. Their smallest margin of win though came against Eastern New Mexico earlier this week.
The Buffs top two scorers also sit at #3 and #4 in the LSC rankings with Qua Grant averaging 21.9 points per contest, followed up by Joel Murray with 19.6. Grant just a sophomore, has yet to have a game under double figures this season let alone under twenty. Grant's 6.9 rebounds are also ninth highest in the LSC.
Follow along with live stats and video stream at wnmumustangs.com
