Westerners put an end to NMMI’s postseason hopes with 75-65 victory in play-in game
NMMI Sports Press
BORGER, Texas — Bronco basketball coach Ralph Davis told his team all week that the season started over Wednesday, when they traveled to Texas to take on Frank Phillips College in the WJCAC opener.
“This whole week of practice, even though we came off of two victories, we were preaching 0-0,” he said. “Even had we gone 11-0 in non-conference, we still would be saying 0-0, because no matter what your overall record is, you still have to finish fourth to go on. So we just told our guys, ‘That’s in the past. Wins or losses, the only thing that matters is Frank Phillips.’”
And after a somewhat slow start, the Broncos took that to heart, topping the Plainsmen 91-64 to go 1-0 in conference.
“We played quite well,” Davis said.
NMMI actually fell behind early, trailing 25-15.
“So we had to take some time outs early to kind of calm everybody down and kind of go from there,” the coach said. “It was a total team effort. The defense was clicking. The offense was clicking. We had 11 turnovers in the first 14 minutes, and ended up with 14 for the game. So once we calmed down, we were able to just get good shots off and that’s what it came down to.”
The Broncos picked up the pace and by halftime led 45-31, ending the half on a buzzer beater trey by Davis Steelman.
They led by 20 to 25 points most of the second half, and except for some late 3s by Frank Phillips, the final margin could have been even wider.
NMMI shot well across the board, shooting almost 68 percent from the field — both 2s and 3s — and 70 percent from the charity stripe. NMMI had five players in double figures, led by Steelman with 20. DeMarco Enoch was just behind with 19, while Logan Santiago and Marion Laveau-Alcindor had 16 each, and Maurice Coleman 10.
Now, at 4-8 on the season, 1-0 in conference, Davis is telling the same story heading into Saturday’s match.
“Even though we’re 1-0, we’re in the same predicament where the only game that matters is Saturday against Odessa,” he said. “They’ve been playing well. We’re going to go out there and try to take care of business against them, simple as that.”
The Broncos travel to the top-10 ranked Wranglers Saturday for a 1 p.m. CST matchup.
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