On Monday night New Mexico Military Institute opened conference play with a 78-51 loss to Western Texas College in Snyder, Texas. With the loss, the Broncos dipped to 8-7 overall and 0-1 in conference play. Western Texas improves to 9-6 and 1-0 to open conference play.

H1

The game did not open as planned for the Broncos, as they opened the conference slate on a 0-8 run as the Westerners forced multiple quick turnovers. The Broncos responded with a 5-0 run after an NMMI timeout. First, Kelvin John finished a layup off a fast break on the first possession, then Joel Pinto drilled a three to make it a 5-8 ballgame with 16:44 remaining in the first half. The next few possessions were back and forth as the Broncos battled for each basket to cut the deficit. With 13:40 left in the period, Carlos Mata was fouled on a three-point attempt. As he converted all three shots at the line, NMMI trailed 16-14.

Only two minutes later, Joel Pinto tied the game with his second three of the night at 19-19. A couple possessions later, Pinto gave NMMI their first lead of the night as he converted at the free throw line. With a slight lead, Western Texas was forced to take a timeout as they trailed 23-21 with 9:51 left in the half.

Western Texas followed up the timeout by closing out the last nine minutes on a 20-8 run as they enjoyed a 41-31 heading into halftime.

H2

In the second period Western Texas made some adjustments as they allowed just nine points in the first 10 minutes of the second period. The Bronco offense struggled to find open shots and keep the Westerners off the scoreboard. In the first half of the second half, Western College constructed a 26-9 run to blow open the lead.

Down by double-digits, NMMI tried to comeback, but they could not stop Western Texas from scoring as they secured a 78-51 win.

Head Coach Sean Schooley on the tough loss, "I thought for the first time all year we were out hustled. We only did that for about six minutes … we didn't defend, rebound or play with any urgency like we normally do," Schooley said. "Our assistant Coach Ty had us prepared and we knew what they wanted to do. However, we did not execute and overall we did not get that Bronco effort we've seen to start the year," Schooley said.

UP NEXT

NMMI will host Howard College on Thursday, January 8 at 6:30 pm in the Cahoon Armory Gym for the Broncos home conference opener.