HOBBS, NM---The Mustang Basketball program opened up their 2019-2020 RRAC schedule by hosting Huston-Tillotson University on Thursday night. The Mustangs entered Thursday's contest with a 5-5 record overall. Despite a strong 2nd half comeback, the Mustangs fell 90-85 to the visiting Rams. 

"I'm proud of the guys for fighting back in this one, even though we didn't come out in the 1st half with the energy and intensity we need to compete with the teams in this conference. They did a much better job of battling back. Late in the game we got away from what had gotten us to that point: getting to the rim and attacking. We settled for 3's and had some blown assignments on the defensive end. It seemed like we forced some shots late. It's a learning experience for these guys. I'm trying to get them to learn how to finish games which are situations they haven't been in very much in previous years." said Head Coach Cory Hitchcock. 

The Mustangs entered the half down 16, but steadily cut the lead down until they took the lead via an Akeem Black 3-pointer with 5:30 to play. Both teams traded clutch shots down the stretch, but the Rams were ultimately the last team to hit a clutch shot as they went up 3 points with just under 45 seconds to go. 

"I think were capable of doing it for 40 minutes" said Hitchcock of his team's hellish defense in the 2nd half of the ballgame. "The thing is getting to the desire of doing it. The last few games we have been down heading into the half and won the 2nd half, but sometimes it wasn't enough" 

Akeem Black was the high-scorer in the game with 25 points on 10-19 shooting from the field. The senior grabbed 5 rebounds and had 3 assists as well. Joshua Harris continued his quietly strong season with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Derrick Hall was the other Mustang with double-digit points as he had 11 points on 4-8 shooting. Hall also dished out a team-high 7 assists and had 6 rebounds as well. 

"It's good to get our captains going, but we need to get more production from our bench. We need some guys to step up and be aggressive." said Head Coach Cory Hitchcock. 

The Mustangs host Our Lady of the Lake University on Saturday afternoon with tip-off scheduled for 4:00 PM MST. As always, the contest will be streamed live via our Mustang TV tab.