Thunderbirds take down Texans 80-66

EDUARDO MIRANDA NEWS-SUN
February 14, 2020

Caster Activity Center was the battleground between the New Mexico Junior College men's basketball team and South Plains College Thursday night. Both teams came in with the identical records in Western Junior College Athletic Conference at 9-3 and tied for second place, trailing only Clarendon College. On Thursday night, the Thunderbirds took sole possession of second place with an 80-66 home win behind a fantastic first half performance and a sloppy second half.

"We where trying to be the most aggressive team," NMJC head coach Luke Adams said. "I thought our guys came out with great intensity and we had a great crowd here and that made a difference. Our guys had a chip on their shoulder and in the first half they played like it in the first half"

The chip Adams spoke of was visible by his players in the first 20 minutes, as their defense and offense was on full display. The Thunderbirds defensive rotation held South Plain to 20 points on 28 percent shooting and 14 percent from the three-point line. Gideon George, Keaton Hervey, Terence Lewis, and Matthew Strange where quick in the defensive rotations forcing South Plains to either take a contested shot or rest its offense late in the shot clock. NMJC did a great job of keeping South Plains from getting second chances by securing the defensive rebound and then ran the fast break to get easy points in the paint.

The offense of the Thunderbirds in the first half was at its best. They created open lanes with their interior passing, which allowed Lewis and Mareng Gatkuoth to get chances in the paint. Hervey had the hot hand the entire first half, and most of the game, as he was able to beat defenders in one on one situation, hit open and contested shots from beyond the arc, and drive to the elbow stop on a dime and hit the shot. Antonio Bridy was able to find open lanes and attack the rim. The Thunderbirds committed only six turnovers in the first half and led 45-20.

The 25-point lead became vital in the second half as the Thunderbirds where outplayed by South Plains. The intensity and chip the NMJC players had in the first 20 minutes was gone. South Plains came out of the locker room and began to play its game, and its defense forced NMJC to fall in love with the three point shot due to it's 2-3 zone.

"Second half I felt we got a little satisfied and started feeling good about ourselves," Adams said. "That's human nature, but I was proud of our guys for making big plays."

South Plains began to attack the heart of the Thunderbirds defense and get to the free throw line. It allowed them to stop the clock and score easy points. But South Plains could never get the lead to fall under double digits, and when it was close the home team responded. Adams pointed out to big plays by players like Strange for getting crucial charging calls to stop the visitor's run. At those moments, NMJC began to get the ball into the paint and that resulted in points in the paint or a chance at the charity stripe. For every run South Plains made, the Thunderbirds found an answer and went on their own run.

Hervey led the Thunderbirds in scoring with 26 points behind a 4 for 7 three-point shooting. Lewis had a double-double night with 20 points and 14 rebounds. George finished with 14 points before fouling out late in the second half and Gatkuoth had 10 points off the bench.

NMJC improves to 10-3 in WJCAC and have a chance to tie for first with a win on Monday over Clarendon College. That will be a road game for the Thunderbirds.

"Clarendon is a good team but we have to do what we do," Adams said. "And that's our defense and the way we play and move the ball. We just have to go up there and play that way."

If the Thunderbirds can produce the first 20 minutes of their win over South Plains for 40 minutes in Clarendon, then they could return to Hobbs tied for first in the conference and a chance to outright win the WJCAC regular season.