PORTALES, N.M. (Dec. 21, 2019) – The way Eastern New Mexico shot the basketball on Saturday afternoon, the Greyhounds probably would have beaten most NCAA Division II teams – and Oklahoma Christian happened to be the unfortunate opponent.
Eastern New Mexico hit 15 of 22 3-point attempts, took the lead midway through the first half and never gave Oklahoma Christian an opening for a rally while downing the Eagles 81-66 at Greyhound Arena.
The one-page record book posted on the Lone Star Conference website does not have an entry for team 3-point percentage in a game, but it would seem likely the Greyhounds' 68.2-percent performance from behind the arc would be close to whatever that record is. ENMU was shooting 75 percent from 3-point range before reserves missed a couple of late attempts.
OC (3-6, 2-3 LSC) also had 22 3-point attempts but the Eagles made only three. Three Greyhounds made more, including Ibn Zaid and Brandon Meadows, who each went 4 for 4 from behind the arc.
"That's just basketball for you," OC coach
Kendre Talley said. "We had a really good game plan, but if they're hitting shots like that, it's going to be tough to beat them. Give a lot of credit to them. They shot it really, really well. They were tougher to guard once they started hitting shots like that."
The Eagles controlled the game early, leading 11-6 and 13-9. OC led 15-13 after a lay-in by
Will Lienhard at the 10:41 mark of the first half, but Eastern New Mexico (3-8, 3-2) answered with three straight 3-pointers, by Zaid, Isaiah Murphy and Garrick Sherrod. The Greyhounds finished the first half 9 of 12 from 3-point range and led 38-29.
Eastern New Mexico quickly extended its lead to double digits in the first half with a 3-pointer by Devin Pullum (who went 4 of 7 from long range) with 18:11 left. The Greyhounds' lead never fell below 10 points after that and grew to as many as 24 points before OC closed on an 18-9 run.
Dedrian Parmer Jr. led OC with 16 points and seven rebounds, while
Anthony Johnson had 11 points and
Aubrey Johnson added 10. Lienhard and
Marcus Blackwell each had eight points and two blocked shots. Lienhard's season total of 16 blocks (in six games) would rank second in the LSC and his 2.7 per-game average would lead the league, but he hasn't yet played in enough games to qualify for the conference statistical list.
Zaid scored 17 points for the Greyhounds, while Pullum and Meadows scored 12 each, with Meadows adding nine rebounds.
"It wasn't like they were getting wide-open shots the whole time," Talley said. "These guys were hitting tough shots with hands in their faces. It was tough on our guys, confidence-wise, knowing you're playing really good defense but guys are hitting shots like that."
OC will take next week off before preparing for its second-semester schedule, which will begin on Jan. 2 at St. Edward's (Texas), which is ranked No. 13 in the Division II Sports Information Directors Association rankings and No. 9 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches poll. The Eagles' next home game will be Jan. 9 against Tarleton State (Texas).
"Losing right before that break is a tough thing to (experience)," Talley said. "You've got to try your hardest to go home and enjoy your break and then just come back refreshed with a new mentality. It doesn't get any easier. We're going to have some tougher games when we get back (from the break)."
Dan Hays, OC's longtime head coach who now serves as a special assistant to Talley, was recognized by Eastern New Mexico during one of the game's first-half artificial timeouts. Hays was a two-time NAIA All-America player for the Greyhounds in the 1960s and is a member of the university's athletic Hall of Honor.
On the trip, he brought two rolls of original 16-millimeter game film from the Greyhounds' first game in Greyhound Arena, a win in February 1968 over Hardin-Simmons (Texas), which he gave to current ENMU coach Tres Segler. Hays played in the game and recorded the first dunk in the arena's history.
Kendre Talley discusses the game:
https://youtu.be/bzHfeDYrpis
