STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The Cowboys were able to cut a 12-point first half deficit down to just one, but New Mexico Highlands (0-2) could not take the lead in the game as it fell 82-63 to Texas A&M Commerce (2-0) Saturday afternoon (Nov. 15) in the Texan Tip-Off Classic.
"I thought our guys really battled through," head coach
Craig Snow said. "It was a 4-point game with less thasn 10 to go, but we just couldn't get over the hump. We missed some free throws and had some empty possessions. You can't do thata against great teams and expect to have success. We have a lot to work on but measuring ourselves against these these two programs was exactly what we needed to do.
"We know we need to get better and that starts when we get back to practice on Monday," Snow added.
Down 48-38 with 17:13 left in the game, the Cowboys used a 15-6 run to cut the deficit all the way to one. Junior
Kendrick Nichols – who again led all scorers in the game for the second straight night, finishing with 24 points against the Lions – split from the line and sophomore
Renato Torres buried a triple. After a pair of free throws from Texas A&M Commerce, freshman
Joe Anaya and redshirt sophomore
Justin Bustos hit back-to-back triples to bring the Cowboys within 50-48.
The Lions responded with a pair of lay-ups, but Nichols hit a three and Anaya cleaned up a miss and got a tip-in to cut the deficit to one with 11:03 left in the game.
However, Texas A&M Commerce rattled off 13 unanswered and never led by less than double digits the rest of the game. Craig Fofang got a tip-in and JR Owens hit a pair from the charity stripe. Bustos missed a lay-up on the Cowboys end that Everrett Pleasant pulled down and outletted to Darrell Williams for the fastbreak lay-up. Williams came off the bench to lead the Lions with 20 points.
JR Owens, who had a game high nine rebounds, added a fastbreak dunk off of a steal. Pleasant hit a layup and De'Andre Carson canned a triple to punctuate the run and put Texas A&M Commerce up 67-53 with 8:01 left. The Lions lead never fell below 11 the rest of the way as they won by 19.
Texas A&M Commerce made their living on the boards, outrebounding the Cowboys 50-32 in outscoring Highlands 40-4 in the paint and 21-6 off offensive rebounds. The Lions also used a 49.2 percent (29-59) to 30.2 percent (19-63) shooting edge. However, the Cowboys were able to cut down on the turnovers from last night as they had a +2 margin (14-12).
"We really struggled dealing with Commerce's inside presence," coach Snow explained. "Both McCauley and and Williams gave us fits inside and we tried to adjust to take the away from their game, but the other players stepped up and made big plays for them. It's hard to win a basketball game when you are outscored 40-4 in the paint. Junior
Charles George nearly missed out on a tiple-double with 10 points and team highs with seven assists – against no turnovers – and seven rebounds. For Texas A&M Commerce, Anthony Adams added 13 points and Christian Macauley chipped in 10.
Thanks to an old-fashioned three by Williams, the Lions built a 34-22 lead with 4:12 in the first half. However, Nichols hit back-to-back triples to cut the deficit in half. The Cowboys trailed 42-32 at the break.
The Cowboys get more than a week off until they tavel to Phoenix, Arizona, to take on Arizona Christian on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving (Nov. 25).
