The second version between the two teams created quite the finish. Similar to the Mustangs last home game against Northern New Mexico, it went down to the wire. Benedictine-Mesa drilled a clutch three-pointer with 14 seconds to play and held the Mustangs on the other end to claim the dramatic 63-61 victory Tuesday night in non-conference action.
BUM (4-9) held a 37-30 halftime lead and stretched the advantage to eight early in the second half. Still trailing by six a few minutes in, WNMU (0-5) found their legs and began to mount a comeback. Willie McCray got things going with a three and then Brandon Tanter wanted his own three on the next trip down the floor as he drained the triple to tie the game at 40 just over five minutes into the second stanza.
The spurt turned out to be a 9-0 run with Steven Loucks connecting on a fastbreak layup on a pass from Emery Range and a free throw by Tanter boosted WNMU in front at 43-40. The basket by Loucks gave the Mustangs their first lead of the game.
The lead stretched to its largest of the night for the Mustangs at the 10:51 mark on a deep ball by Range for the 48-42 advantage. The Redhawks refused to go away, as they still had energy left despite playing just seven players the entire night. Richie Thornton ignited what would be a 8-0 run for the Redhawks that jumped them back in front at 50-48 with seven minutes to play.
The teams exchanged small leads over the next several minutes when WNMU moved the lead by more than two with just 2:46 left to play when Range came away with a big steal and then hit a pair from the line for the 58-55 lead.
With the Redhawks clinging to a one-point lead at 60-59 with just 32 seconds left to play, the Mustangs came through with a big play to gain an extra possession. On a missed free throw, Makhtar Fall battled Reggis Kindle for the loose ball and the ball ended up caroming off of Kindle out-of-bounds to give WNMU the ball with 30 seconds to play.
Out of a timeout, WNMU went to Loucks who had the hot hand, but his jumper missed. Range came in strong on the weak side and got a tip-in to move the Mustangs in front at 61-60 with 23 seconds to play.
Another timeout followed and the Redhawks turned to Troy Conley who hadn’t attempted a field goal all game long. He took a pass on the left wing from Anthony Bryant and calmly stepped into a three that swished in to move BUM back in front by two at 63-61 with 14 seconds to play.
The Mustangs took another timeout and looked to setup a play on the other end. As time began to tick down, Brandon Williams was forced to take a contested three that just missed. Fall again was battling for the loose ball and collected the rebound and was fouled with just 0.3 seconds left. With both teams in the double-bonus, Fall had a pair from the line to try and tie the game. He wasn’t able to hit the foul shots and the Redhawks escaped with the two-point victory.
BUM started the game strong scoring the first eight points, all by Kyle Tomlinson. Tomlinson led all-scorers with 17 points. Loucks then decided to answer back with his own run, as he put in the next six points to bring WNMU back to within two at 8-6. Loucks paced the Mustangs with 13 points.
The Mustangs fought back to trim the deficit to one with seven minutes to play in the opening half when Jordan Enriquez drove strong for a layup and Adam Kesler sunk a trey leaving the Redhawks with the 19-18 lead.That would be as close as WNMU would get the rest of the first half.
Loucks went 4-of-7 from the field and also made 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Range reached double-figures with 11 points, along with five rebounds and three steals. Marcus Weeks and Enriquez came off the bench to each post eight points. Fall led in rebounds with eight.
Tomlinson made four three-pointers to help lead to his game-high 17 points for the Redhawks. He also added eight rebounds. Bryant tallied 14 points and Jorge Cano added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
BUM held the edge on field goals hitting on 42.3 percent (22-52), while WNMU made 21-62 (33.9). WNMU made one more three-pointer (6-5), while BUM held a 14-13 edge at the foul line. BUM held a 45-36 advantage on rebounds, but WNMU took care of the ball with just 11 turnovers, while forcing 18. That led to WNMU holding a 15-9 edge on points off turnovers.
WNMU will now hit the road this coming Saturday when they open RMAC action at in-state rival New Mexico Highlands beginning at 4 p.m.