Las Vegas, New Mexico - The Cowboys, 9-15 overall and 7-6 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, return home Saturday afternoon for a 3:00 p.m. RMAC match up against Fort Lewis College.
New Mexico Highlands is coming off a 92-79 loss at Adams State on Tuesday night, despite a career-high 15 points from
BJ Comer.
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.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION: Fort Lewis, which is receiving votes in the latest NABC Division II Top 25 poll, enters Saturday's game at 14-6 overall and 12-1 in RMAC play after a 95-93 loss at Adams State on Thursday night.
Sophomore Stewart Erhart leads the Skyhawks in scoring at 17.5 points per game, while Chuol Deng paces the team on the glass at 7.9 rebounds per contest. Jordan Mast is in his second season as the head coach at Fort Lewis.
The Skyhawks hold a narrow 6-4 edge over New Mexico Highlands in the last 10 meetings between the two programs. Fort Lewis won the most recent match up, 88-80, in Durango on December 9, despite a game-high 25 points from Cowboys guard
Dontae Walker.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: The Cowboys head into play on Saturday afternoon averaging 77.1 points per game while allowing 78.0 per outing.
The Cowboys lead the RMAC and are 15th nationally in bench scoring at 33.5 points per game.
Marcus Pierce leads the Cowboys 14.6 points per game.
Dontae Walker (10.7 points per game)
Ramiah Adedigba (10.6 points per game) are also averaging double-figures.
Marcus Pierce is eighth in the RMAC in free throw percentage at 86.3%.
Nikk Williams is sixth in the RMAC in rebounding at 6.9 per game.
Caileb Parham is tenth in the RMAC with 1.4 steals per game.
TEST THEM COWBOYS: New Mexico Highlands has already been battle-tested this season, playing 24 regular-season games with 14 of those coming away from historic Las Vegas. The Cowboys were also challenged early with road exhibition contests at North Texas, New Mexico State, and New Mexico.
The regular season opened in early November at the D2CCA Tip Off Classic at The Trailhead in Billings, Montana, where Highlands faced nationally ranked Montana State-Billings, Angelo State, and Central Missouri. The non-conference slate has also featured match ups against Western New Mexico, Eastern New Mexico, and Cameron of the Lone Star Conference.
Adding to the grind, the Cowboys' first three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games of the season all came on the road.
ON THE AIR: Saturday's game with Fort Lewis will be broadcast on the
RMAC Network with Scott Galetti and Steve Davis on the call.
UP NEXT: The Cowboys have games at Westminster on Thursday night and Colorado Mesa on Saturday afternoon.
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.
