STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The Texans forced 23 turnovers and turned that into a 29-9 edge in points off miscues that proved to be the final margin as New Mexico Highlands men's basketball (0-1) lost it's season opener to #10 Tarleton State (0-1), 72-52 Friday night (Nov. 14) in the Texan Tip-Off Classic in Stephenville, Texas.
"Tonight, we saw up close and personal what a top-10 team in the country looks like," head coach
Craig Snow explained. "Tarleton gave us a lot of problems and as talented as they are, they areextremely well coached. We have a lot to build from this, and we must do a better job and our offensive execution in general need to improve."
Trailing 3-0 early, junior
Kendrick Nichols scored the first basket of the coach Snow era just more than a minute into the ballgame to cut the deficit to one. Tarleton State built a 6-2 lead, but a jumper by junior
Charles George and a layup from classmate
Kaylen Shane tied the game at six.
Tarleton answered with an 8-0 run and never led by less than six the rest of the way. Michael Hardge made a lay-up and off of a Cowboys three-point miss, Teven Jones made a fastbreak lay-up. Damion Clemons added a lay-up and TaShawn Mabry made a lay-up to put the home team up by eight at the 12-minute mark of the first half. Freshman
Joe Anaya made a layup to end the more than six and a half minute scoring drought for Highlands.
The Cowboys dropped down 40-19 at halftime, only making 1-12 (8.3 percent) from beyond the arc in the first stanza. For the game, Highlands shot 38 percent (19-50) compared to 44.4 percent (28-63) for the home team. Leading the Cowboys was Nichols with 7-14 shooting from the field and a 6-7 mark from the charity stripe for a game high 21 points. Shane added a game best seven rebounds, while George had three assists. For the home team, starter Mo Lee and reserve MaBry had 17 points each while Jones added 11.
However, the Cowboys were able to take a 34-32 edge on the glass.
Tarleton State ran into a five minute scoring drought of its own in the second half as the Cowboys cut the deficit to 14. After a triple by Hardge put the home team up 48-27 with 16:17 left, both teams failed to score for the next two minutes before Nichols made a layup. Sophomore
Marcus Stevens added a jumper before junior
Erick Vega hit a triple to cut the deficit to 48-34 with 11:08 left in the game. Tarleton State answered with a 17-6 run to put the game past the 20-point scoring differential for good.
The Texans led 72-56 with 2:25 remaining, but the Cowboys scored six unanswered to outscore the home team in the second half. Anaya hit a pair from the line, Nichols added a fastbreak layup off a steal and
Drew Herig followed with a jumper to end the game.
"All in all, I do feel that we have some positives to take away," Snow added. "This was our first game on the road in a tough enviornment. We held them 13 points before their scoring average last season and we outrebound them. We need to continue to guard and rebound while we work on improving on the offensive end."
The Cowboys will have a quick turnaround as they take on Texas A&M Commerce tomorrow at 1 p.m. The Lions upended Lubbock Christan 83-76 in their season-opener on Friday.
