Thunderbirds stun Westerns with 51 point second half

The New Mexico Junior College men's basketball team opened the WJCAC on the road against a very strong Western Texas College team Wednesday. The Thunderbirds, coming off winning the Lufkin Thanksgiving Classic last weekend, got Western Junior College Athletic Conference play started with an impressive win.

Using a 51 point second half performance, the T-Birds defeated Western Texas College 86-78 in the Coliseum. The T-Birds went into the half trailing 42-35, after the Westerners forced NMJC to settle for jump shots and slowed down the ball movement NMJC was trying to play.

The T-Birds began the second half by attacking the paint. It allowed NMJC to begin chipping away at the lead of the home team and turn the game into a four-point affair. The strong post play from Gideon George, Terrence Lewis, and the rest of the T-Birds took Western out of its rhythm, forcing the home team to play at the T-Birds' tempo. The slower pace forced the home team to commit more fouls, sending NMJC to the line where it went 15-for-20 after just five attempts in the first half. Mareng Gatkuoth finished 4-for-4 while Lewis was 5-for-8 from the charity stripe.

As good as the T-Birds' offense was in the second half, they were also lucky down the stretch in securing the win. The T-Birds' interior defense was horrible, allowing the Western players to find lanes to attack the rim. The home team watched those layups and a few put backs bounce on the rim and roll out, a few of the layups where also air balls. With clutch free throw shooting in the final minute by Antonio Bridy and Lewis, the Thunderbirds left the Coliseum with a 1-0 in conference play.

"We took a lot of pride in trying to play a tough schedule," NMJC head coach Luke Adams said. "We only played three home games, and those were in the very beginning of the year. We tried to prepare ourselves for this brutal conference with competition night in and night out."

He added the early road games helped the team learn how to compete every night and he was proud of them for continuing to do so in the win over Western Texas. Adams said in the second half his team tried to get to the paint, make plays for others, and be the more aggressive team. It allowed them to get to the line and he was proud of them for making the adjustments.

One area that Adams was particular proud of his team was the 15 turnovers; it is the lowest of the season for NMJC. He expects that and more to continue to improve as the young players on the roster continue to mature with the veterans. Another area, the Thunderbird coach credited for the win was second chance points. NMJC held Western to only five-second chance points in the win.

"That's huge," he said. "That was one of our goals was to limit them getting offensive rebounds. I give credit to the guys they battled and fought through it. They made plays when they needed to, they deserved it."

The T-Birds will face Odessa College at 3:45 p.m. Saturday in their final game before the Christmas break.

"We got to get ready for a well coached Odessa team, that has a completely different style of play. They are long and athletic, it's going to be a different team, and hopefully we will get them prepared in time," Adams said of his opponent Saturday.

New Mexico Junior College's Mareng Gatkuoth (1) looks to get past his defender in the first half of the Thunderbirds' WJCAC opener Wednesday in Snyder, Texas.