Las Vegas, New Mexico - The Cowboys, winners of three straight games,continue the longest home stand of the season this week as they welcome MSU-Denver for a 7:00 pm Thursday date and Regis on Saturday at 3:00 pm.
New Mexico Highlands swept a pair of games last week in the Wilson Complex beginning with a 94-79 win over UCCS on Thursday night beginning with a game high 24 points from
Marcus Pierce. Saturday afternoon the Cowboys topped CSU-Pueblo as
Dontae Walker logged a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
COACH SETTEMBRE: Coach
Zach Settembre is in his first season leading the Cowboys after being named head coach on April 8, 2025. He picked up his first career win at New Mexico Highlands on December 4, when the Cowboys defeated Regis 72–57.
Settembre brings an impressive resume to the program, with assistant coaching stops at Tarleton State, New Mexico State, and Coastal Carolina. He previously served as the head coach at Tallahassee Community College, where he led his teams to back-to-back conference championships and compiled a 46–9 record.
A 2012 graduate of Syracuse, Settembre began his climb up the Division I ranks as a student manager under Hall of Fame coach 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, which was released prior to the start of the season. The Cowboys finished last season with a 12–16 overall record, going 5–15 in RMAC play.
MSU Denver was tabbed for a sixth place finish while Regis was 14th in the voting by the conference coaches.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION: MSU Denver is 6-12 overall and 4-6 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference heading into Thursday's game at New Mexico Highlands. Dan Ficke, a graduate of Loyola University, is in his fourth season at the helm of the Roadrunners. Logan Threatt leads MSU-Denver is scoring at 15.4 points per game while Brian Unachukwu is the leading rebounder at 5.8 per game. Over the past ten games the series between the two teams is tied at 5-5.
Regis is 1-15 overall and 0-10 in conference play and will play at Adams State on Thursday before coming to historic Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon. Rex Walters is in his first season as head coach at Regis. A trio of Rangers average in the double figures led by Luke Soden at 16.3 points per game. Quinn Lambert is the team's leading rebounder at 6.0 per game. Regis hold s a 7-3 edge in the last ten games in the series, however the Cowboys topped the Rangers 72-57 in early December to get Coach Settembre his first career win.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: The Cowboys head into play on Thursday averaging 75.7 points per game while allowing 77.8 per outing.
The Cowboys are second in the RMAC and 22nd nationally in bench scoring at 32.3 points per game.
Marcus Pierce leads the Cowboys in scoring at 14.6 points per game.
Ramiah Adedigba (11.1 points per game) is also averaging double-figures.
Nikk Williams is eighth in the RMAC in rebounding at 6.8 per game.
Marcus Pierce is sixth in the RMAC in free throw percentage at 88.5%.
Caileb Parham and
Ramiah Adedigba are tied ninth in the RMAC with 1.4 steals per game.
TEST THEM COWBOYS: New Mexico Highlands has played 21 regular-season games so far this season, with 11 of those coming away from historic Las Vegas. The Cowboys have also been tested early, playing exhibition games on the road at North Texas, New Mexico State, and New Mexico.
The regular season opened in early November at the D2CCA Tipoff Classic at The Trailhead in Billings, Montana, where Highlands faced nationally ranked Montana State–Billings, Angelo State, and Central Missouri. The non-conference schedule has also included matchups against Western New Mexico, Eastern New Mexico, and Cameron from the Lone Star Conference.
Adding to the challenge, the Cowboys' first three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games this season all came on the road.
ON THE AIR: This week's games will be broadcast on the
RMAC Network with Scott Galetti and Steve Davis on the call.
LiveStats will also be available for both games.
UP NEXT: Play at Adams State on Tuesday night at 7:30 pm and host Fort Lewis Saturday at 3:00 pm.
CLEAR BAG POLICY: NMHU has implemented a
Clear Bag Policy for all on-campus events.
GET YOUR TICKETS: Single game tickets for NMHU basketball are on sale now and can be purchased on-line at
NMHUAthletics.com/Tickets.
