PORTALES, N.M. -- Midwestern State has won back-to-back games by double digits and is off to its best start through 14 games since the 2016-17 campaign after defeating Western New Mexico in Silver City on Thursday night, 90-75. The Mustangs look to sweep the road trip as they visit Eastern New Mexico on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off at Greyhound Arena is scheduled for 4 p.m. CST.

Midwestern State is the third-highest scoring team in the Lone Star Conference and 24th in the nation with 86.8 points per game.

Gibson is the leading scorer for MSU — 11th in the conference — with 15.6 points per game, and he is third in the LSC with 70 made free throws and fourth in the league with 90 free-throw attempts.

The Mustangs are attempting the fifth-most free throws in the conference with 23.6 attempts per game and converting 74.3percent, which is seventh-best in the league.

Pierre Sanders, who is pouring in 14.1 points per game, leads the LSC and is 14th among NCAA Division II players with 5.5 assists per game.

Sanders has the fourth-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the country and leads the LSC at 4.29.

Will Shepherd is eighth in the league with two 3-pointers per game and is averaging 12.4 points per game. Shepherd is shooting 38 percent from long range (27 of 71).

LaStrap scores 10.9 points per game and is second on the team with 3.4 assists per game.

Austin Lewis is hitting 39.7 percent of his shots from beyond the arc (25 of 63) and is scoring eight points per game for the Mustangs.

Hill leads Midwestern State with 6.4 rebounds per game and is contributing 7.9 points per game.

Midwestern State is third in the conference with 39.5 rebounds per game but has a minus-1.7 rebounding margin.

The Mustangs lead the conference and are fourth in the nation with 20.46 fast-break points per game.

Sanders and LaStrap are both in the LSC top-10 for steals per game, and the Mustangs are third in the league with 8.7 steals per game. Sanders is sixth with 1.69, and LaStrap is ninth with 1.62 steals per game.

Midwestern State is forcing its opponents into 16 turnovers per game, which is the second-highest total in the conference.

Duncan Alevok leads the conference and is 14th in the nation with 30 blocks this season. His 2.1 blocks per game is best in the conference and 17th in the nation.

Opponents are scoring 78.7 points per game against the Mustangs — the 12th-highest total in the LSC.

The Mustangs are 3-1 on the road this season.

Midwestern State leads the all-time series with Eastern New Mexico, 37-19, but lost its last encounter with the Greyhounds, 66-51, as ENMU restricted Midwestern State to a 29.4 shooting percentage including a 1-for-17 performance from the 3-point arc last season in Portales.

Eastern New Mexico features two freshmen that stand at least 7-feet tall, and sophomore Jose Murillo is 6-9. Jachoree Ealy, a 6-7 senior, is the leading scorer in the Lone Star Conference with 22.8 points per game.

Eastern New Mexico (9-4, 5-2) is coming off a 105-84 victory over Cameron on Thursday night. Murillo was 9 of 9 from the field and scored 21 points for the Greyhounds. Junior Hodnett, a 6-3 junior guard, also scored 21 points in the victory. ENMU dominated the boards and outrebounded the Aggies, 51-34.

The Greyhounds are the second-highest scoring team in the conference with 90.2 points per game.

Lyron Bennett is fourth in the conference, dishing out 4.5 assists per game.

Mario Whitley, a 6-5 junior forward, leads ENMU and is eighth in the LSC with seven rebounds a game this season.

ENMU is 11th in the conference in scoring defense, allowing 77.9 points per game.

Eastern New Mexico is leading the conference with 5.23 blocks per game, led by Murillo and Conrad Luczynski, who each average 1.5 blocks per game.

The Greyhounds force 13 turnovers per game with 7.15 steals per game. Ealy is 13th in the league with 1.5 steals per game.

Brett Owen became the 14th head coach in the history of Eastern New Mexico men's basketball in early May of 2020. Owen joined the Greyhounds following a nine-year tenure as an assistant coach at the University of Southern Indiana.

Last season, he helped the program to a 17-12 (12-10 LSC) mark and a trip to the Lone Star Conference tournament in Frisco, Texas. The twelve wins in league play were the most since the 1950's when the team was a member of the now-defunct Frontier Conference.

Owen is 33-33 (.500) at ENMU.

Justin Leslie is in his fifth season with Midwestern State and his 17th season as a head coach at the collegiate level. His career record is 323-185 (.636) and he is 57-64 (.471) at MSU. Leslie competed as a 6-8 center at Azusa Pacific from 1996-2001. He is one of just five players in Golden State Athletic Conference history to play on four conference championship teams.

Midwestern State returns to D.L. Ligon Coliseum on Thursday night to host Angelo State at 7:30 p.m.
 

--MSUMustangs.com--