PHOENIX, Arizona – The Cowboys raced out to a six-point lead, but the Firestorm heated up from the field and led by as much as 32 in the second half as the New Mexico Highlands men's basaketball team (0-3) lost to Arizona Christian (4-2) 104-82 Tuesday night (Nov. 25).
"I thought Arizona Christian did a good job attacking us offensively and being the agressor both halves. They got into the bonus early and really took it to us. It's ahrd to win games at this level and we need to start doing the little things that win games – diving to the floor, taking charges and talking on defense. Things we just aren't valuing now and you can see it on the floor and in our results," head coach
Craig Snow explained.
Highlands was able to put up 82 point thanks to a rare five player double-digit effort. Junior
Jonathon Mines, in his season debut, scored 16 points. Junior
Kendrick Nichols added 15 while redshirt sophomore
Justin Bustos and junior
Charles George had 13. Junior
Erick Vega came off the bench to add 10, hitting all four field goals from the field.
The Cowboys were able to hold serve in the first half, only trailing 50-41 in intermission. However, Highlands could not overcome Arizona Christian's 33-63 (52.4 percent) shooting from the field and 54 points in the second half.
Six different Firestorm players hit double-digits, led by Woolfgang Wood's 16 points off the bench. Sharif Watson had a double-double with 15 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and three blocks.
After the Cowboys got down 100-68, they strung together a 14-4 run to cut the final deficit to 22. Freshman
Joe Anaya hit a pair from the line and added a a layup. Arizona Christian split from the line and Anaya hit a layup and George was able to get an old-fashioned three on a breakout from a defensive rebound to cut the deficit to 24. George hit a pair from the line before the teams exchanged threes before the final buzzer.
"I thought (
Luis Rodriguez-Quintana) gave us some good minutes and with him being our only senior, showed some urgency. I think that happens with guys as they get closer to ending their careers and the rest of our guys need to see that and begin to play with that same urgency. It's going to take some time with this being new to everyone but we desperately need to get back home and have some good practices leading into our conference and home opener next Friday," Snow added.
The Cowboys take more than a week off before they return to action next Friday (Dec. 5) when they open up home and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Play against Colorado Christian. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
