Cowboys Split with Dixie State and Westminster at home

Las Vegas, NM --- The New Mexico Highlands Men's basketball team split with Dixie State and Westminster over the weekend in a pair of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference match-ups at Wilson Complex.
 
AGAINST DIXIE STATE: The Cowboys started out on fire as their first play to start the game was an alley-oop set up for Raquan Mitchell. Sammy Barnes-Thompkins started by connecting on his first three shots attempts and the Cowboys jumped to an early 12-5 lead over the Trailblazers.
 
The Cowboys would continue their offensive attack to extend their lead to as much as 17 points in the first 5 minutes of the game, however, the Trailblazers would not give up as they would fight their way back to cut the Cowboy lead down to 3 points with 6:20 left in the first half.
The Cowboys didn't give up as they gained more momentum to extend their lead to 51-35 at the break.
 
The Cowboys continued their momentum in to the second half as they would push to a 19-point lead with 13:30 left in the game and would continue to battle with the trailblazers as they maintained a 14-point lead with a little under 5 minutes left.
 
The Trailblazers would then go on an 18-4 run, to send the game to overtime at 94.
 
The teams would continue to go back and forth before Dixie State pulled a 3-point lead with 1:10 left in the period. Sammy-Barnes-Thompkins would miss a lay-up and Jalen Munn would recover the offensive rebound for the Cowboys, only to get fouled on the put back attempt. Munn would make both of his free throws and the Cowboys would remain down by 1 point.
 
The Cowboys would then force a turnover which led to a Barnes-Thompkins go-ahead lay-up with 23 seconds remaining to give the Cowboys a 1 point lead.
 
 Dixie State's Hunter Schofield would take the ball down the floor and attack the rim to make the game winning lay-up to defeat the Cowboys 109-108.
 
Raquan Mitchell recorded a team high 41 points, which included 10 3's, 50% from 3, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, a block and a steal while Sammy Barnes-Thompkins finished with 37 points and 5 rebounds.
 
AGAINST WESTMINSTER: The Cowboys found themselves in another thriller on Saturday night as the game ended on another buzzer beater.
 
The Cowboys seemed to be in control early to start the game as they jumped out to an early 8 point lead before Westminster was able to storm back and take a commanding 43-35 lead at half.
 
The Griffins would extend their lead to 11 points before the Cowboys would push to within 1 point with just over 11 minutes remaining.
 
With 29 seconds remaining, Westminster Jai Jai Ely would head to the line after a rebounding foul called on NMHU's Mitchell. Ely would make both free throws to give the Griffins a 4 point lead.
 
Barnes-Thompkins would immediately take the ball to the basket to draw a foul before connecting both his free throw attempts. The Cowboys would be forced to foul on the inbounds to send Jake Connor to the line for two shots with 16 seconds remaining.
 
Again, the Griffins would make both free throws and the Cowboys would be forced to rush down the floor and, again, Barnes-Thompkins would connect, this time on a three pointer to cut the Griffin lead to 1 point with 10 seconds remaining.
 
Again, the Cowboys were forced to foul and sent James Wall jasper to the line.
 
Wall Jasper would miss both of his free throws and Barnes-Thompkins would sprint down the floor to make a 15 foot lay-up as the buzzer went off to beat the Griffins 78-77.
 
Sammy Barnes-Thompkins would finish with 27 points and 5 rebounds while Raquan Mitchell added 22 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Darius Harrison (7 points, 5 rebounds) and Will Johnson (6 points, 7 rebounds) would also aid the Cowboys over the Griffins.
 
The Cowboys will be back in action on Wednesday night for their final game in 2019 as they host CSU-Pueblo at 7 pm at Wilson Complex!
 
GO COWBOYS!!!