No. 12 Eastern New Mexico battles past West Texas A&M, 84-73 - Lone Star Conference Skip To Main Content

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No. 12 Eastern New Mexico battles past West Texas A&M, 84-73

Championship Central
 
By NICK EATMAN
 
FRISCO, Texas –  In a matchup between the two highest scoring teams in the LSC, it was Eastern New Mexico providing just enough defense, especially in the second half, to survive West Texas A&M in the quarterfinal round of the LSC Championship Tournament.

The 84-73 win by the Greyhounds completed a three-game sweep of the Buffaloes, a team that had defeated ENMU 16 straight times before the start of the 2025-26 season.

No. 3 seeded ENMU (25-4) advanced to Saturday’s semifinal round to play No. 2 LCU at 2:30 at Comerica Center. The Buffaloes drop to 20-11 and will wait on next week’s regional tournament. WTAMU was ranked seventh in the latest poll for the eight-team regional.

The game was close for most of the way as ENMU led just 41-39 at halftime and the game was knotted at 43 with 16:54 to play. But that’s when the Greyhounds went on a 12-2 run, sparked by four different players scoring in the run, including a breakaway dunk from Treyvon Byrd.

West Texas A&M eventually cut the lead down to two at 64-62 with 7:25 left, but it was too much from Cooper Jackson, who led the Greyhounds on both ends of the floor. Jackson had a team-high 23 points, to go along with six rebounds, four assists and four steals.

ENMU dominated the paint, outscoring the Buffs 50-30 inside, led mostly by All-LSC First Team selection Jose Murillo, who had 19 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Byrd had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

For the Buffaloes, Fontaine Williams Jr. led all scorers with 27 points. Joey Sledge hit the first three 3-pointers of the game for the Buffs and had 14 points. Brock Mishak and James Parlow Jr. each had 11 points.
         
ENMU Notes:
  • Thursday’s win was the first in the LSC tournament for the Greyhounds since the dramatic game-winning 3-pointer to win the tournament in 2024. ENMU lost an overtime thriller in last year’s quarterfinals but will now advance to the semis.
  • ENMU had lost 16 straight games to West Texas A&M before this season’s three-game sweep. The Greyhounds have now beaten the Buffs three times in a season for the first time in program history and tied their longest winning streak over WTAMU.
  • ENMU ranked second in the nation in team field goal percentage at .513 percent and topped that Thursday, making .583 of the shots. (35-of-60).
  • Murillo finished the regular season as the LSC leader in blocks with 1.9 per game. He protected the rim once again, recording a game-high three blocks.
  • Cooper Jackson led the LSC in steals and ranked second in the nation with three per game. He finished with four. Mo Austin is seventh in the nation at 2.8 steals per game and had two.
West Texas A&M Notes:
  • Since winning six straight LSC championships from 2018-23, amassing 18 consecutive wins, the Buffs are now just 1-3 in the last three seasons in Frisco.
  • Jailyn Sledge tied a career-high with four 3-pointers – all in the first half. Sledge had just three 3-pointers in a game this year, but made four last season against DBU.
  • Fontiane Williams finished the regular season ranked first in the LSC and 11th in the nation with 169 free throws made. Williams, who was second in the conference in free-throw percentage at 86.2 percent, made all five attempts.
  • Brock Mishak tied his season-high with five steals.