Las Vegas, New Mexico - New Mexico Highlands opens the 2025-26 season with three games at the D2CCA Tipoff Classic at The Trailhead in Billings, Montana, this weekend with games against the host Yellowjackets, Angelo State, and Central Missouri.
COACH SETTEMBRE: Coach Settembre makes his NMHU debut this weekend in Billings. Settembre brings an impressive resume to the helm of the Cowboys having served as an assistant coach at Tarleton State, New Mexico State, and Coastal Carolina. He was the head coach at Tallahassee Community College where he led his teams to back-to-back conference championships and a 46-9 record. Settembre's climb up the DI ranks was in part facilitated by one of the sport's legends. He is a 2012 graduate of Syracuse and served as a student manager under Jim Boeheim.
RMAC COACHES POLL: New Mexico Highlands men's basketball was picked 11th in the 2025-26 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll that was released last month. The Cowboys were 12-16 overall and 5-15 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference last season.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION: MSU-Billings is coming off a 21-12 overall record and an 11-7 mark in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. The Yellowjackets were tabbed for a third place finish in the GNAC Coaches' Poll and are led by head coach Luke Fennelly who guided them to consecutive 20 win seasons. Friday's game will be the first ever meeting between NMHU and MSU-Billings.
Angelo State was 17-12 overall and 13-9 last year in the Lone Star Conference. The Rams, also from South Central Region, were tabbed for a sixth place finish in the LSC Coaches' poll. Vinay Patel is in his fourth campaign leading the ASU team. The Cowboys lead the all-time series with Angelo State 3-2 including wins in each of the past two seasons.
Central Missouri finished last season at 15-15 overall and 9-10 in the rugged Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. Adam Bohac begins his second season leading the UCM program after a long tenure as head coach at Southern Nazarene. The MIAA Coaches' poll saw the Mules targeted for a seventh place finish this season. Central Missouri won the only previous meeting between the two teams 46-31 during the 1938-39 season (credit UCM Sports Information).
TEST THEM COWBOYS: In addition to this weekend's slate of games in Montana, Coach Settembre put together a challenging non-conference schedule. The Cowboys play three Division I opponents; North Texas, New Mexico State, and New Mexico. Also on the schedule are dates with Western New Mexico, Eastern New Mexico, and Cameron from the Lone Star Conference.
The Cowboys will have played eight games in four different states before they play their home opener in historic Las Vegas on November 28th against Western New Mexico.
The 2025-26 RMAC season kicks off on December 4th when the Cowboys travel to Denver to play Regis University.
ON THE AIR: The 2025 D2CCA Tip-Off Classic will be available on a pay-per-view basis through the GNAC Network. Full details are on the
Tournament Homepage.
UP NEXT: The Cowboys fly back to New Mexico on Monday and immediately head to Las Cruces for a match-up with New Mexico State on Tuesday night. Tip-off from the Pan American Center is set for 7:30 pm.
GET YOUR TICKETS: Season tickets for NMHU basketball are on sale now and can be purchased on-line at
NMHUAthletics.com/Tickets.
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