PORTALES, New Mexico – The #20 Buffaloes of West Texas A&M turned the ball over 16 times and couldn't hit a big shot down the stretch as they dropped their third straight contest with a 96-83 Lone Star Conference loss at Eastern New Mexico on Thursday night in Portales, New Mexico. The Buffs fall to 18-5 (6-4 LSC) while ENMU snaps a four game skid to improve to 8-12 (2-8 LSC) on the season.
 
The Buffs started the scoring with a Ryan Quaid bucket followed by an ENMU layup but Tommy Gove would answer with a transition three from the corner at 5-2, the teams traded possessions before Andre Hughes hit a jumper followed by a Jordan Evans board and score before Hughes hit a transition long ball at 7-7. Gove hit his second three of the game followed by a WT foul as Joe Clark hit one-of-two at the stripe and a Buffalo miss but the Hounds turned the ball over heading into the first media timeout of the game with WT leading 10-8 with 15:51 left in the half.
 
The teams traded turnovers after the break followed by a Skyler O'Laughlin slam from Gove and Shawn Shelton hitting two at the line at 12-10, the teams traded misses before Carl White knocked down a transition three from the top of the key followed by a Lamarquis Thompson board and score and a David Chavlovich floater at 17-12. Eastern rejected a WT shot that turned into a Hounds fast break layup followed by an ENMU steal but the Hounds gave the ball right back with an offensive foul, Quaid connected on a hook shot in the lane followed by a Chris Wyms long ball from the wing heading into a media timeout with WT leading 19-17 with 13:01 left.
 
Eric Golightly Jr. hit a three on an inbound play after the break followed by a Thompson baseline layup and a WT turnover that led to a Hughes bucket from behind the arc at 22-21, the Buffs responded with a Chavlovich transition three followed by an ENMU turnover that led to a Hounds timeout with 8:41 left. Byrale Carter cut into the lead after the break with a long ball followed by a White trey from the top of the key before the Hounds turned the ball over with 7:51 left and the Buffs leading 28-24 heading into a media timeout.
 
Chris Lewis knocked down a bucket just inside the arc followed by misses on both ends before O'Laughlin responded with a strong move under the basket at 30-26, Eastern responded with a Clark board and score followed by a WT miss and a Lewis long ball as ENMU took their first lead of the night. The Buffs missed from deep and Shelton knocked down a bucket to force a Buffalo timeout with 4:44 left, WT turned the ball over again as Clark hit two at the free throw line before an Eastern steal led to a fast break slam at 30-37 heading into a media timeout with 3:44 left.
 
Eastern missed two at the charity stripe followed by a board and score by White before a Chavlovich steal and fast break layup at 34-37, Thompson responded with a long ball from the corner followed by another WT turnover and a Buffalo foul as Wyms hit two freebies. The teams traded possessions followed by a Golightly Jr. floater in the paint but another WT turnover led to a Carter fast break slam, Chavlovich cut into the lead with an offensive rebound and bucket heading into the break with ENMU leading 43-38.
 
The Buffs were led at the break by Chavlovich with nine points followed by White with eight while Quaid grabbed six rebounds in the first period. WT went 16-oc-25 (64%) from the floor in the opening period including 6-of-12 )50%) from deep without attempting a free throw, the Buffs grabbed 11 rebounds (three offensive, eight defensive) with six assists, 13 turnovers, one block and two steals.
 
Eastern New Mexico went 16-of-29 (55.2%) from the field including 4-of-4 (100%) from behind the arc and 7-of-10 (70%) from the charity stripe with 11 rebounds (five offensive, six defensive), six assists, seven turnovers, two blocks and seven steals. The Hounds were led at the break by Thompson with eight points followed by Lewis, Clark and Hughes with seven each.
 
Joseph Prince hit two free throws to start the second half followed by a Lewis bucket and misses on both ends before Prince hit a three from the wing at 43-45, Clark answered with a long ball of his own followed by a Quaid layup and an ENMU turnover that led to Prince hitting one at the stripe. Thompson responded with a bucket followed by a WT miss and another Eastern layup as the Hounds took a 52-46 lead into a media timeout with 15:56 left.
 
The teams traded misses before Shelton hit a running jumper in the paint followed by a White bucket and an ENMU miss that led to an O'Laughlin slam from White on a fast break attempt at 50-54, Carter responded with a jumper to go along with a WT foul as the freshman finished off the three-point play followed by a Quaid bucket and a WT foul as Shelton hit one-of-two at the line at 52-58. The teams traded misses before Drew Evans hit two free throws followed by a White rejection but the Buffs gave the ball right back with an offensive foul, the Buffs missed under the bucket as ENMU scored on back-to-back possessions heading into a media timeout with 62-54 with 11:15 left.
 
The Buffs gave the ball away with a shot clock violation after the break but the Hounds couldn't convert as they missed on their end followed by an ENMU foul as Golightly Jr. hit one-of-two free throws at 73-56, a Greyhound turnover led to Prince hitting one at the line before Thompson responded with a layup. Carter hit two freebies before Golightly Jr. hit a long ball from the wing but Thompson responded with a three of his own, a WT miss led to a Greyhound bucket heading into a media timeout with 7:22 left and ENMU leading 71-59.
 
Chavlovich hit one-of-two at the stripe followed by an Eastern offensive board and slam to go along with a technical foul on the Buffs as Wyms hit both at the line at 60-75, WT responded with a D. Evans fast break slam with a foul as the freshman finished off the three-point play followed by misses on both ends before Arcaim Lallemand hit two freebies followed by a Golightly Jr. long ball at 66-77 heading into a media timeout of the night with 6:03 left.
 
Quaid hit two at the line after the timeout followed by a Gove steal that led to a D. Evans fast break layup with a foul as the freshman cut the lead to 71-77, Hughes responded with a floater off the glass followed by a Golightly Jr. bucket and a Hughes board. The teams traded buckets heading into a timeout followed by a WT miss from deep as Carter finished in the lane before another WT technical foul as Wyms hit both, WT cut the lead to seven with a steal and score but another technical as Wyms hit two more at 89-80.
 
Eastern missed from the stripe as Prince raced down the floor for a layup followed by a WT foul as Thompson hit one-of-two at the line before an ENMU foul as Prince hit one-of-two at 83-90, WT was called for a foul as Lewis hit two freebies followed by two more ENMU free throws before a Greyhound technical foul and a WT miss from deep as Clarke slammed home the fast break finish the game, 96-83.
 
The Buffs went 29-of-62 (46.8%) from the floor including 10-of-29 (34.5%) from deep and 15-of-20 (75%) from the free throw line to go along with 25 rebounds (10 offensive, 15 defensive), 11 assists, 16 turnovers, three blocks and nine steals. Golightly Jr. led the way with 19 points followed by Chavlovich, Prince, Quaid, D. Evans and White with 10 each while Quaid finished the night with a double-double (10 rebounds).
 
Eastern New Mexico was led by Thompson with 18 points followed by Clark (16), Hughes (15), Carter (12), Wyms (11) and Lewis (11) in double-figures. The Greyhounds went 33-of-61 (54.1%) from the field including 6-of-8 (75%) from deep and 24-of-31 (77.4%) from the free throw line with 38 rebounds (13 offensive, 25 defensive), 10 assists, 18 turnovers, three blocks and seven steals.
 
UP NEXT
The Buffs continue their road trip in the Land of Enchantment on Saturday afternoon as they make the drive in Silver City, New Mexico for a matchup with the Mustangs of Western New Mexico (2-16, 0-10 LSC) with tipoff set for 5 p.m. CT at Drag's Court. The Mustangs fell to UT Permian Basin (92-69) on Thursday night in Silver City.