LAS VEGAS, N.M. – With basically an entire new team and a new head coach this season, it has been a season of first for the Cowboys. They can add their first season sweep of a team to their repertoire.
The Cowboys led for nearly 34 minutes of the game and held off a big Mountaineer second half run as New Mexico Highlands (5-18, 5-14 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) beat Western State (4-19, 3-16 RMAC) 78-65 Saturday night (Feb. 14) at the John A. Wilson Complex.
Highlands trailed 6-0 just 2:36 into the game, but it took all of mere seconds to climb within one. Junior
Jonathon Mines canned a triple – one of four for the guard who finished with a game-high 18 points – and classmate
Kendrick Nichols added a jumper. Junior
Amal Wilson split from the line to tie the game.
The Cowboys then used a 17-5 run to go up 10 and take the lead for good. Down 10-8 with 14:58 left, junior
Erick Vega provided a spark off the bench with a tip-in off a Mines miss. Nichols then nailed a jumper and three pointer on his own to quickly put the Cowboys up five. Devin Kastrup split from the line, but Vega answered with a layup. After a pair of free throws by Western State's Mason Biddle, both teams went scoreless the next two minutes before Nichols grabbed a defensive board and went coast-to-coast for the fastbreak hoop and the Highlands 19-13 lead. Junior
Matthew Logan added a layup and classmate
Charles George – who came off the bench for 11 points – split from the line. Dominique Wright hit a jumper for the visitors with 6:58 left in the half, the first field goal for the visitors in six minutes, but Mines came down and hit a triple on a pass from Logan. The Cowboys led 25-15 with 6:38 left in the first half.
Lone seniors
Drew Herig and
Luis Rodriguez-Quintana got in the act late in the first half to help Highlands take a 10-point lead into the lockerroom. Herrig nailed his first triple of the season off a pass from junior
Ricky Norris while Rodriguez-Quintana grabbed a defensive board and went right to the rim for the fastbreak hoop.
The Cowboys led 36-26 at the break as they allowed the fewest points of any half this season in the first stanza.
Besides Mines 18, Nichols added 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting and seven boards while junior
Kaylen Shane came on late, battling foul trouble, with 10 points all in the second half. Norris had a game high 12 boards.
The Mountaineers cut the deficit to 66-60 with three minutes left, but an 8-1 run pushed the lead to double digits for good. Freshman
Joe Anaya hit a layup before Mines hit a pair from the charity stripe. The Mountaineers split, but Mines and George both hit a pair from the line. Highlands hit 75 percent (18-24) from the charity stripe for the game.
Western State trailed by as much as 13 early in the second half before six unanswered cut the Cowboys advantage to 51-47 with 11:47 left. Danny Hopkins completed an old-fashioned three and Dominque Wright tallied a dunk on a lob from Biddle. Kastrup then split from the line, but the visitors got no closer in the half.
Biddle led Western State with 19 points while Kastrup added 17. Wright chipped in 12.
The Cowboys travel up I-25 to Golden, Colorado, in a showdown with Colorado School of Mines Friday (Feb. 20) at 8 p.m.
