On Thursday night New Mexico Military Institute suffered a 74-69 loss to #18 South Plains College in the Cahoon Armory Gym. With the loss the Broncos slipped to 0-4 in conference play with a 8-10 overall record. With the win South Plains College improves to 13-4 overall with a 2-2 mark in conference play.
The Broncos opened the game with a quick 5-0 run with the help of a pair of quick buckets by Joel Pinto and Carlos Mata. Down five, South Plains responded immediately as they constructed a 8-0 run to take a 8-5 lead with 16:17 remaining in the half. Carlos Mata drilled a three to tie the game at 8-8, the second tie of the contest. South Plains established some offensive rhythm as they took a 21-15 lead.
Down six the Broncos showed no quit. With a run of their own, NMMI was able to tie the game for the third time after Demari Larkins went 2-for-2 at the free throw line. Tied at 24-24, Joel Pinto scored on consecutive times down the court to give the Broncos a 30-28 lead with a 1:42 remaining in the half. However, South Plains College closed out the half on a 6-0 run as they took a 34-30 lead into halftime.
In the first 10 minutes of the second half both teams traded baskets as the Broncos tried to stick around. However, in those 10 minutes the Texans outscored NMMI 22-16 to take their largest lead of the game with a 56-46 advantage. As the Broncos leaned on Joel Pinto for scoring he delivered. The freshman cut the lead to just three as NMMI trailed 61-58 with 3:21 remaining in the contest.
Late in the game, Carlos Mata scored from outside the arc to make it a 72-69 lead for the visitors. However, South Plains was able to keep a three-point advantage to close out the game as they secured the 74-69 win on the road.
Head Coach Sean Schooley on the tough loss, "I'm extremely proud of the guys. It's a tough loss but I can't be mad about the effort our guys showed out there tonight. We never stopped fighting throughout the entire game and I'm proud of that against the #18 team in the nation in South Plains," Schooley said. "We came within three points late with a corner three and we just needed a stop late. However, I think the big deal for us was our free throws. We missed 11 free throws and lost by five points, that's huge," Schooley said. "Joel played incredible tonight scoring 33 with 10 boards … from a freshman you can't ask for anything more from the guy," Schooley said.
UP NEXT
The Broncos return to action on Monday, January 19 when they go on the road to take on Midland College in Midland, Texas starting at 6:30 p.m.