TEXARKANA, TX---The Mustangs played their 2nd game in as many days Saturday afternoon against the #21 Texas A&M-Texarkana. After a blowout loss on Friday night, the Mustangs turned right back around for game 2 of the season. The Mustangs were unable to overcome the Eagles tough defense and fell 81-57. 

"It was good to see us play with more effort and grit but we are still a little ways out from where we need to be to compete with the top teams in our conference. We need more practice time to work on fundamentals and the little things. We can't keep turning the ball over 25 times a game and expect to have a chance to win. TAMUT had 36 points off of our turnovers which makes it almost impossible to give us a chance to win. We must value the basketball and at least give ourselves a chance to be in the ball game." said Head Coach Cory Hitchcock after the loss. 

The Mustangs were led by junior guard Charles Burnell who scored 13 points off the bench. "I think Charles Burnell did some good things today, we just need him to be more of a vocal leader. Being the point guard he has more responsibilities and higher expectations. If we can get him to be another positive leader on the court it will help us tremendously" said Hitchcock on his leading scorer on the afternoon. 

The Mustangs were coming off a 48-point loss at the hand of the Eagles on Friday night. Despite the losing effort Saturday, Hitchcock believes the guys made some strides from Friday's contest. "Our defensive rotation was better, we played with more heart and energy. We started doing the little things like taking charges and getting on the ground for loose balls. We were definitely better today then yesterday but until we lock in and really focus on the details we can expect outcomes like this in the game."

Drew Derrieux (4 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists) & Elijah Neumann (6 points, 4 rebounds) were two Mustangs who stood out to Hitchcock even in the loss. "Elijah Neumann and Drew Derrieux did a good job today and really improved from the first day" said Hitchcock on the two transfers. Sophomore Alex Pena had 8 points and 6 rebounds (3 offense & 3 defense) and 3 steals in 21 minutes of action. Thurbil Bile had 8 points of his own to go along with 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block and 1 steal. 

It's only two games in, and with little practice and no outside competition up to this point, Hitchcock knew that there would be growing pains this season, but has learned that this group is up for the challenge and won't stop competing. "We learned that we are young and inexperienced. We did not have enough practices in to compete at the level we need to compete at. Usually at this time we have had around 80 practices and right now we are only around 40. It's going to take us a little be of time to get things right. The problem is we don't have much time. I'm also learning that we have a great group who wants to be pushed and wants to win. They like being around each other and playing for one another. We have the potential, it's just putting all the pieces together for us to be successful."

The Mustangs travel to Shreveport, LA to take on the #2 team in the country on Tuesday night, the LSU-Shreveport Pilots. Live video and live stats will be posted the day of the game.