Eastern New Mexico historic season comes to an end in South Central Regional Quarterfinals

CANYON, Texas (KFDA) – The Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds fall in the NCAA South Central Regional Quarterfinals to the Colorado Mesa Mavericks, 95-77.

The Greyhounds historic season comes to an end. This team went from being picked in 15th in the preseason polls of the 2022-2023 season to making an NCAA tournament berth one season later.

“They are one of the most fun groups I have ever been around,” Eastern New Mexico head coach Brent Owen said. “At the beginning of the season, we set the goal of making the NCAA tournament, and for a lot of programs it might seem like that is a low goal, and perhaps I should have set the goal higher, but in preseason we were picked 8th in the league. For this team to make the NCAA tournament for the third time in program history, that is something that I am really proud of.”

Eastern New Mexico won it’s first Lone Star Conference tournament title for the first time since 1993, second ever in school history. The program also broke numerous records including most conference wins in a season with 15, most 100-point games with 12, and its scoring recording averaging 90.0 points per game.

It was basically a home crowd for the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds at the First United Bank Center, and the Greyhounds leaned into the crowds energy.

It was a back-and-forth battle the first 20 minutes of action. At the first media timeout, Eastern had the lead, and then at the second, Colorado Mesa found its way back to be ahead by one, 22-21.

Midway through the first half, the Greyhounds went on a 7-0 scoring run to take their biggest lead of the contest, 30-24. The Mavericks were too hot from beyond the arc as they shot 46.7% from three. Going into the locker room, the Mavs held a four-point advantage, 46-42.

To start the second half, Colorado Mesa put 13 on the board compared to the Greyhounds five. Eastern New Mexico sparked another 7-0 run by Greg Johnson alone. With under 12 minutes left in the ball game, the Greyhounds battled back to cut the deficit to four again, 63-59.

The Mavericks proved to be too much. Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference player of the year Trevor Baskin took over. Baskin sparked a 13-0 run for Colorado Mesa with a dunk giving them the cushion they needed. Baskin ended with a game-high 31 points. Colorado Mesa defeats Eastern New Mexico, 95-77.

Colorado Mesa moves on to the NCAA South Central Regional Semifinals on Sunday. They will take on Fort Lewis at 5:00 p.m.

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