SILVER CITY, N.M. – Shooting 48 percent in the first half, the Western New Mexico University men’s basketball team was down by just two at halftime against Adams State University. The Grizzlies, though, came out firing in the second half to pull away for the 80-67 hard-fought Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory Saturday night.
The game ended up being tied eight times and the lead changed hands five times. WNMU (2-19, 2-15 RMAC) came out over the first few minutes of the game and opened a 5-0 lead behind a layup from Terrez Scott (Santa Clarita, CA/Valencia) and a three by Steven Loucks (Yuma, AZ/Cibola). ASU (14-6, 10-6 RMAC) then benched their starting five and would go on a 5-0 run to tie the game three minutes in.
Marcos Castrillo (San Francisco, CA/Pinole Valley) extended the WNMU lead to three with a three-point-play with 13:13 left in the opening half to give the Mustangs a 12-9 advantage. WNMU would get in front by as many as six near the midway point of the half on a three-point-play by Adam Kesler (Silver City, NM/Silver) for the 17-11 lead.
The teams would tie several more times the remainder of the half before the Grizzlies took a slim 37-35 lead into halftime.
In the second stanza, although WNMU wouldn’t regain the lead again, they kept it close throughout. Loucks and Castrillo connected on shots in the early going to leave it a one-point deficit. Brandon Tanter (Long Beach, CA/Los Angeles Prep) had WNMU to within two again a little later and then Kesler cut the deficit back to two on a layup three minutes in.
ASU responded with an 11-0 run to open a 59-46 lead at the 13:53 mark. Scott had WNMU back to within eight with six minutes to play on a free throw, but that would be as close as the Mustangs would get the rest of the way. The Grizzlies used an 8-0 run to seal the victory.
Six Mustangs scored in double-figures led by 13 from Scott. He also added five assists. Loucks posted 12, Tanter and Gavin Wood (Florence, AZ/Florence ) with 11 and Castrillo and Kesler with 10. WNMU made 23-of-56 (41.1) from the field, including an 8-of-20 (40) effort from three. ASU ended up with a 54.5 percentage (30-55) from the floor and added 17 free throws. Juwan Buchanan led the Grizzlies with 17 points.
WNMU will remain at home this coming Friday when they will host Western State Colorado University beginning at 7:30 p.m.
