The Eastern New Mexico men’s basketball team will look to close out its seven game road stand on a high note as the Hounds prepare to face Angelo State at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday and Texas A&M-Kingsville at 3 p.m on Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT
The Hounds (6-6, 3-1 Lone Star) split their two road games last week, picking up an 80-78 win at Western New Mexico on Jan. 3 before dropping their first LSC game of the season at UT-Permian Basin by a score of 95-81 on Jan. 5.

Against the Mustangs, neither team led by more than two possessions in the first half, but the Greyhounds went into the halftime break with the momentum after junior forward Darius Sawyer slammed home a monstrous dunk off a beautiful pass from sophomore guard Devin Pullum just before the buzzer to give ENMU a 34-31 lead.

Eastern came out red hot in the second half, outscoring Western 17-9 in the first seven minutes to hold its largest advantage at 51-40. The Mustangs chipped away to eventually make it a one-point game at 73-72 with 54 seconds to go. On the ensuing possession, senior guard Maurice Coleman knocked down a clutch jumper just before the shot clock expired as the Hounds held on for the victory.

The Greyhounds luck ran out against the Falcons on Saturday as Eastern had to fight back from a slow start. The Falcons were on fire from the field in the opening half to take their largest lead at 48-25 with 2:54 to go until the break. ENMU fought back in the final three minutes, outscoring the Falcons 12-4 to close the gap to 52-37 at halftime. Eastern continued to cut into the UTPB advantage in the second half as Zach Parker’s three-pointer with 12:56 to go made it a six-point game at 64-58. However, Eastern could climb no closer as Permian Basin held on for the win.

SCOUTING THE RAMS
Angelo State comes into the week with a 9-3 overall record and are 2-1 in LSC action. The Rams are one of four LSC teams ranked in the D2SIDA South Central Regional Rankings in a tie for fifth with Colorado Mines. Last week, the Rams returned to LSC play and picked up a 75-65 win at Texas A&M-Kingsville on Jan. 5.
As a team, ASU enters the contest with the fourth-best scoring offense in the conference, averaging 80.8 points per game while ranking third in scoring defense, limiting it’s opponents to just 69.8 ppg. The Rams balanced scoring efforts are led by senior guard Daron Mims and junior guard Ronald Bell, each averaging 12.8 ppg while senior forward Antonio Singleton is chipping in 12.3 ppg off the bench. Bell leads the team in rebounds, averaging 7.2 per game while senior guard James Kirksey commands the offense with a team-leading 31 assists while leading the entire conference with 26 steals at 2.2 steals per game.

HISTORY WITH THE RAMS
While Angelo State possesses a 41-34 advantage of Eastern in the all-time series, the Hounds have found some recent success against the Rams. The Greyhounds have taken two of the last three games, picking up back-to-back home wins with an 82-66 victory on Feb. 23, 2017 and a 92-89 win on Jan. 20, 2018. Even though the Hounds fell to ASU in their last game in San Angelo, ENMU had a game-winning shot just miss at the end of regulation and a potential game-tying three-pointer in overtime fall just short in the 86-83 loss.

SCOUTING THE JAVELINAS
Texas A&M-Kingsville enters the weekend with a 4-7 overall record and are 0-3 in LSC action. The Javelinas dropped a 75-65 affair to Angelo State in their return to conference play on Jan. 5.

The Javelinas have struggled on the offensive end through the first 11 games of the season, ranking last in the Lone Star in scoring offense at 66.4 ppg, but have the top scoring defense at 66.9 ppg.

Senior guard Chauncey Thomas leads the offensive efforts with an 8.0 ppg average and has been effective at getting to the free throw line for TAMUK, converting on 30-of-37 (81 percent) of his foul shots to go with his team-leading 27 assists. Freshman guard Darius Mickens has provided a spark off the bench for Kingsville, scoring at a 7.1 ppg clip while converting on 52 percent from the floor and 41 percent from the three-point arc. Senior forward Robert Stevenson commands the rebounding edge for the team at 6.9 rpg while also being the team’s best shot blocker with 16.

HISTORY WITH THE JAVELINAS
TAMUK possesses a 45-24 advantage in the all-time series, but recently the series has provided some exhilarating and heartbreaking moments as the last three games between the two teams have been decided by three points or less. The last time the Greyhounds played in Kingsville was on Feb. 24, 2018 in a high stakes affair that decided the eighth and final spot in the 2018 Lone Star Conference Tournament. With the game tied and 27 seconds left, Coleman made a crucial jumper in the paint to give ENMU the 58-56 advantage. On the ensuing possession, Arcaim Lallemand blocked TAMUK’s equalizer just before the buzzer to seal a spot in the LSC Tournament for ENMU.

EMILI EMERGENCE
Senior forward Chukuka Emili saw a resurgence within his offensive game against WNMU and UTPB last week. Prior to last week, Emili scored in double-figures twice in the last seven games with a high of 12 at Regis. Against the Mustangs and Falcons, Emili scored 19 points in each game, shooting a blistering 14-of-22 (63 percent) from the field and converted on 8-for-9 (89 percent) from the free throw line. Emili also recorded his third double-double of the season against Western after tallying 11 rebounds. Adding to his LSC lead, Emili recorded four blocked shots between the two games to bring his season total to 23 total blocks.

HIGH FIVE
The Hounds have shown incredible scoring balance all season and it was no different for ENMU against the Mustangs and Falcons as five players score in double-figures in each contest. Against Western New Mexico, Emili (19), Coleman (15), Pullum (13), Isaiah Murphy (11), and Nick Brown (10) rounded out the double-digit scorers while Emili (19), Zach Parker (12), Sawyer (11), Brown (11), and Pullum (11) led the way against UT-Permian Basin.

TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF
With the Hounds winning streak in Lone Star Conference play coming to an end last week at UT-Permian Basin, they will be looking to bounce back to close out the road stand. Eastern will need to solidify things on the defensive end against the Rams and Javelinas after giving up a season-high 95 points on 60-percent shooting in their loss to the Falcons. However, one bright spot for the Eastern defense despite the high shooting percentages is the team’s ability to force turnovers, collecting 20 or more extra possessions in two of the last three games.

LUCKY NUMBER SEVEN
Despite the losing effort to UTPB, Coleman asserted him as an offensive catalyst by recording a career-best seven assists. Coleman set a previous career-best of six last season in an 82-73 win at Lubbock Christian on Dec. 30, 2017 and tied the mark on Jan. 20, 2018 against Angelo State. This season, Coleman notched six assists once again in the Hounds’ 85-73 win over MSU Texas on Nov. 29, 2018.