T-Birds Fall to Odessa College in First Conference Game of the Season

by Claire Cabello 

NMJC T-Birds started conference off last night against the Odessa College Wranglers in Odessa, TX. 

The T-Birds maintained a lead on the Wranglers throughout the first half. Freshman Mouhamed Mbaye put up 13 points in the first half followed by freshman Josaphat Bilau and Jordan booker who both contributed 8 points each to the 40 points made by the T-Birds in the first half. The T-Birds went into the second half ahead of the Wranglers 40-39. 

It was a close second half for both teams. The Wranglers caught up at the start of the half with a short lead 58-55 with 15 minutes left in the game. Sophomore Dannie Smith made a 3 pointer followed by a free throw from Odessa tieing the game 64-64 at the 10 minute mark. The Wranglers had their largest lead of the game of 6 points when Smith made another 3 pointer for the T-Birds making the score 77-80 with 5 minutes left. 

After a tight final minutes of the game, the T-Birds fell short to the Wranglers ending the game with a final score of 86-89. 

Top scorer for the T-Birds was Jordan Booker with 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. Other T-Birds in the double digits were Mouhamed Mbaye with 18 points, Dannie Smith with 15 points, and Josaphat Bilau with 10 points.

NMJC T-Birds are now 0-1 in WJCAC play. They will stay on the road for the month of December and come back home in January 2022 to play Western Texas College at home on Saturday, January 8th at 3:45PM MST.