LAS VEGAS, N.M. --- The New Mexico Highlands men's basketball went cold in the second half from beyond the arc and fell to South Dakota Mines 88-83 on Saturday at Wilson Complex.
However, the Cowboys still are in the RMAC Tournament after finishing 10-12 (15-13 overall), tied with Westminster for the last spot and owning the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Griffins. NMHU will take on No. 1-seed Black Hills State on Tuesday.
In the contest, the Cowboys led 50-47 at the half before falling behind by as much as nine points in the second half. NMHU cut the lead to one point at 84-83 after a
Sammy Barnes-Thompkins bucket with 1:06 remaining.
But that's as close as the Cowboys got as SDM pulled away with the five-point win.
After going 10-for-22 from 3-point range in the first half, NMHU went 0-for-12 from 3-point range in the second half while the Hardrockers shot 63 percent (17-for-27) from the field in the second half.
Barnes-Thompkins led NMHU with 25 points in his final game as a Cowboy while fellow senior
Marcus Brown had 14 points and senior
Desmond Carpenter had 12 points, six rebounds and four steals.
Eric Sonnenberg had 12 points and six rebounds off the bench for the Cowboys.
