Trent's second buzzer beater in a row pushes T-Birds past South Plains

HOBBS, N.M. — Malique Trent was going to be hard pressed to outdo his game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer to cap a 24-point performance at Western Texas on Thursday.

The sophomore did just that.

With 0.8 seconds left in overtime and NMJC down 75-73, Trent caught a three-quarter court pass, turned and hurled up a 35-foot shot that bounced off the glass and in to give the T-Birds a 76-75 victory – causing the near-capacity crowd to storm the court.

"I just wanted to get the ball in my hands and get a shot off," Trent said. "I went up and got the ball, I turned around and was open, so I let it go and it went in."

Asked if this shot was the biggest of his life – even topping the one on Thursday – Trent let out a sheepish grin and replied, "Yeah."

NMJC coach James Miller said the plan was to cross players and try to free Trent for a shot, who scored 10 of NMJC's 12 points in overtime.

"We were just trying to get Malique a look," Miller said. "… Malique Trent is arguably the best player that I've coached in my six years here. He hits big shot after big shot for us. … But what I'm most proud of is that this team didn't quit."

Trent's shot saved what could've been a tough loss for the T-Birds as NMJC (20-6, 9-3) held a 43-26 lead after a Randy Haynes bucket with 15:01 left in the game.

South Plains (19-5, 9-2) slowly cut the T-Bird lead to six at 57-51 after an Andre Spight 3-pointer with 3:54 left.

After Trent hit another of his six 3-pointers in the game, NMJC started to struggle with the South Plains press.

T-Bird turnovers on three consecutive possessions led to a Brandon Neal bucket and back-to-back 3-pointers by Spight (the last being banked in) to cut the NMJC lead to 60-59 with 2:36 left.

A spinning runner high off the glass by Rene Esparza with 1:03 left in regulation gave the T-Birds a 64-61 lead before a 3-pointer by Pat Birt tied the game at 64 with 53.2 seconds left.

Both teams had chances to win in regulation, including the Texans missing a point-blank shot at the buzzer, but the game eventually went into overtime.

In overtime no team led by more than three points as a Andre Horne 3-pointer with 1:01 left made it 74-73 with 1:01 remaining in OT.

NMJC missed a shot to take the lead in the final seconds but missed and South Plains' Emmanuel Omogbo grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 0.9 seconds left.

Omogbo hit the first, but missed the second and NMJC called a quick timeout with 0.8 seconds left.

That's when Jeremy Postell threw a deep pass that Trent leaped high for, turned and banked in for the game winner.

Trent finished with 29 points while Malik Carter had 11 and Cullen Russo finished with nine points and 16 rebounds.

Spight finished with 19 points to lead South Plains while Birt had 17 and Omogbo had 10.

NMJC travels to play Odessa on Thursday.