T-Birds advance in Region V Tourney
FOR THE NEWS-SUN
March 5, 2020
The New Mexico Junior College Thunderbirds were in high spirits at Moody Arena in Abilene from the start Wednesday afternoon as they swished their first six jumpers. The shooter's touch lasted for much of the first half as they hit 54 percent of their shots and went on to defeat McClennan College 66-62 in the first round of the Region 5 Tourney.
The play was at a brisk pace in the first half and referees let the two teams play. In fact, only three foul whistles stopped action in the first 10 minutes. NMJC continued to stroke the outside jumper while the Highlanders penetrated and kicked it out to the corners. But free throws were at a premium, the T-Birds were just 2-for-2 and McClennan 0-for-2 by the time the first half horn sounded.
"This was a grown man's game tonight." related NMJC head coach Luke Adams. "You had to earn your points. We have been shooting well this past week and that's why we have these guys shoot 400 shots a day at home. You can't expect calls to always go your way."
Gideon George, Terrence Lewis, and Keaton Hervey appeared to be hungry from the start with an evenly distributed 27 points by halftime. In addition, Lewis was a monster on the boards pulling down seven and helping the T-Birds to a 31-28 halftime lead.
Fearing another half of stellar T-Birds shooting, the Highlanders got out of their 1-3-1 zone defense and went to man to man exclusively in the second half. But it wasn't a move that surprised Adams as his team managed a 9-0 foul count advantage midway through the 2nd half.
"We made some adjustments at the half in anticipation of that," recalled Adams. "Hervey started attacking the basket. We took it to the middle of their defense. Lewis and George got real physical and that was the dagger for our opponent."
The largest lead of the game for the T-Birds, 52-41, came at the 9:12 mark after the second of two treys within a minute were converted by guard Matthew Strange. And although Hervey was top scorer with a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds, he was quick to praise Strange and his teammates as the reason for the win.
"A lot of our people can score on this team," shared Hervey. "But you also have to credit Antonio (Bridy)- he picked up that big charge at the end that got us the ball back."
The Highlanders were able to cut down on their 11 point deficit in the second half thanks to a pair of treys by Rodrique Masserat, 12 second half points from Rayquan Brown (18) and the penetration of Lorenzo Anderson who tied the game at 60 with a free throw with 2:54 remaining.
Lewis, the second T-Birds double-double producer (17points/11 rebounds) was quick to deflect talk about his MVP-like performance even though his 2-handed power dunk gave the squad their go ahead bucket at 64-62 with 0:55 left.
"Gideon got himself an assist after dumping it to me," said Lewis. "He's an unbelievable passer although he's best known as a ball faker. All of our guys knew this was the big stage and we had to execute. We couldn't have won without Matt's treys either."
NMJC hit 7 treys in the game for 43 percent and were 72 percent from the line (13-18).
But things weren't perfect in this game as the T-Birds coughed up 17 turnovers compared to McClennan's 12. Admittedly, it was the recovery factor that got them the win. Case in point was Hervey's missed 2 double bonus free throws late in the game, but then redeemed himself with 2 makes with 0:11 on the clock to seal the win.
"At this time of year you just have to be the more consistent team, which we were," Adams said. "This was a complete team win. This tourney is wide open and we have to be the best team each and every game no matter the opponent."
Gideon George finished with 11 points. Antonio Bridy chipped in seven points while Mareng Gaykuoth finished with three. Matthew Strange added six points while playing off the bench.
The T-Birds advance to the regional semifinals against Clarendon College on Friday in Abilene Christian Univeristy's Moody Coliseum at 1 p.m.