PORTALES, New Mexico (January 3, 2025) – Lubbock Christian went into halftime tied with Eastern New Mexico 32-32, but took control in the second half to defeat the Greyhounds 77-71 on the road Friday.
 
The Chaparrals (9-4, 4-1) shot a scorching 68 percent in the final 20 minutes of the game, including hitting 8-of-11 three-point attempts (72.7 percent) en route to the win. Overall, LCU shot 53.8 percent from the field and 56.0 percent from behind the arc. It is the sixth time they have shot better than 50 percent from the field this season, and they are 6-0 in those contests.
 
Three players scored in double figures, led by Ethan Duncan, who had 26 points. He shot a whopping 67 percent from the field himself and scored 18 of his points in the second half alone.
 
Jaylen Thompson tacked on 14 points, four assists and three steals off of the bench and Sean Murphy chipped in with 13 points and a team-leading eight rebounds.
 
LCU also played tough defense against ENMU, who came in leading the conference with an average of 96.0 points per game. The 71 points scored by the Greyhounds were their fewest since the season-opener, when they scored just 55 against Fort Lewis.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Chaps fell into an early six-point hole, but got back into the game thanks to three-pointers from Amondo Miller Jr. and Thompson. They took their first lead when they went on an 8-0 run with 9:18 left in the first half to go up 24-21.
 
Eastern New Mexico see-sawed right back in front and led by six with 3:23 left in the first half, but the Chaps closed the period on a 6-0 run and the scored was knotted up at 32 when the teams went into their locker rooms.
 
The turning point in the game was right after the intermission, when LCU opened on an 11-2 run and quickly followed it up with another 7-0 run to push the lead out to double-digits for the first time all night by either team.
 
Lubbock Christian's offensive barrage pushed the gap all the way out to 16 at its widest point, and they still led by that mark with 5:46 left in the game.
 
The Greyhounds made one final push in the final minutes and did enough to make Chap fans sweat, using a 12-3 run to cut the gap to just seven points. But Ty Caswell hit a three with just under two minutes to play to give LCU some breathing room and the Chaps were able to hold off ENMU's comeback attempt.
 
 
GAME NOTES
» Lubbock Christian tallied 17 total assists in the game. More than half came from Najeeb Muhammad, who had a season-high nine.
» This is LCU's first win against ENMU since Jan. 12, 2023, and their first win against the Greyhounds in Portales since Feb. 17, 2022. The all-time series between the two teams is now tied 36-36.
» Duncan led the Chaparrals with a game-high 26 points. It is his team-leading fifth game with at least 20 points this season and the 14^th of his LCU career.
» Both LCU and ENMU pulled down exactly 30 rebounds, meaning the Chaps for the season still have a rebounding margin of zero.
» Murphy scored 13 on 6-9 shooting, giving him his third-straight game in double-figures, which is the longest streak this season. He is shooting 63.9 percent from the field for the season.

This article was partially created using technology provided by Data Skrive.