NMJC falls to South Plains in Region V semifinal

BROWNWOOD, Texas — The New Mexico Junior College men's basketball team fell behind 10-0 to start the game and never recovered during a 76-58 loss to South Plains on Friday in the Region V Tournament semifinals at Brownwood Coliseum.

NMJC (23-9) fell behind 21-6 in the first half before cutting the South Plains deficit to 23-19 after a Karim Diop three-point play with 6:49 remaining in the first half.

However, South Plains' Marlon Jones threw down a dunk to spark a 15-2 run for the Texans (26-6) – capped by a Pat Birt 3-pointer to make it 38-21 with 1:36 left as the T-Birds trailed at the half 38-25.

NMJC cut the lead to 10 points twice in the second half, but never got any closer.

South Plains shot 48.8 percent from the field for the game, including 66.7 percent in the first half (12-for-18). The Texans went 9-for-21 from 3-point range as well while also hitting 71.1 percent from the free-throw line (27-for-38).

NMJC didn't shoot near as well, hitting just 30.5 percent of its shots during the game (including 29.6 percent in the first half), while going 6-for-30 from 3-point range (20 percent) and 16-for-26 from the free-throw line (61.5 percent).

Malique Trent led NMJC with 11 points, Cullen Russo had 10 points, seven rebounds and two steals and Tyler Blount finished with nine points, including a pair of 3-pointers.

Neel led South Plains with 19 points, Birt had 17 points while Emmanuel Omogho had 12 points and 18 rebounds.

NMJC was outrebounded in the game 43-26.