Huge second half propels Thunderbirds past Texans

Levelland, TEXAS

The New Mexico Junior College Men's basketball team knew they had their work cut out for them on Saturday and they also knew history wasn't on their side. However, that didn't slow down the Thunderbirds as they played tough defense in knocking off South Plains 73-70 at the Texan Dome.

Trailing by as many as 16 in the first half and 11 at the break, the Thunderbirds came out of the locker room and began methodically chipping away at the lead with great defense and timely shooting.

Randy Haynes turned in his first career double-double with a game high 23 points to go along with a game high 10 rebounds. Tyler Blount pumped in 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting, 4-of-9 from three and Jalin Hart knocked down 3-of-5 from three to add 13 points.

NMJC outscored South Plains 50-36 in the second half and out rebounded the Texans 36-30.  Devin Wyatt turned in another fabulous game defensively as he blocked six shots.  Haynes picked off five Texan passes to lead the Thunderbirds.

With the win, the Thunderbirds (3-1) moved into second place in the league behind Odessa (4-0). The Thunderbirds return home Monday to take on Clarendon College at 7:30 P.M.