Tbirds hang tough, beat NMMI

Hobbs, NEW MEXICO

In the opening conference game of the second half of the season, the New Mexico Junior College Thunderbirds raced out to a big first half lead and literally hung tough to pick up the home conference victory 103-90 over the NMMI Broncos.

Scoring the basketball was no issue at all for the Thunderbirds as they shot just over 47% for the game and topped the century mark for the fifth time this season. The Thunderbirds were led by sophomore Tyler Blount, who came off the bench to score a team high 20 points going 5-for-9 from the field while knocking down 4-of-6 three pointers.  Fellow running mate, Randy Haynes chipped in 19 points followed by Jalin Hart and Xavier Jackson who added 12 and 11 points respectively.

Defensively, the Thunderbirds had their hands full with the Broncos Nehemiah Mabson as he poured in a game high 30 points.  However, the Thunderbirds were able to limit the rest of the Broncos and eventually out rebounded the Broncos 42-33.  Freshman Emmanuel Ansah had a game high nine rebounds.  Devin Wyatt continued his dominating post presence blocking another four shots.

The Thunderbirds improve to 12-5 on the season and 2-1 in WJCAC play and will travel to Levelland, Texas on Saturday for a 3:45 P.M. CST tilt with last years NJCAA National Runners-up, the South Plains Texans.