Hounds defeat Chaps on last-second basket
Feb. 14—PORTALES — Things didn't look good toward the end of Saturday's Lone Star Conference men's matchup between Eastern New Mexico University and Lubbock Christian at Greyhound Arena.
The last couple of minutes seemed like an eternity as the Greyhounds, who saw a 12-point lead early in the second half dissipate, tried to scramble back.
Then suddenly, Blazej Czerniewicz had the game in his hands.
Trailing by two points, junior forward Jahcoree Ealy went hard to the basket and was fouled with eight-10ths of a second left. Officials reviewed the play and ended up resetting the clock to two seconds.
Ealy made his first free throw, then LCU called timeout. The second shot rolled out, but Czerniewicz, a 6-foot-9 freshman from Gdansk, Poland, found the rebound and laid it in to give the Hounds a crucial 77-76 win over the stunned Chaparrals.
Moments earlier, Czerniewicz banked in a 3-pointer from the key to pull ENMU (15-9, 10-8 LSC) to within two with six seconds left. The Hounds then forced the Chaps (18-8, 12-6) to throw the ball out-of-bounds, setting up the zany final possession.
The win keeps ENMU firmly entrenched in sixth place in the overall conference standings. The top eight of 16 make the LSC tournament in early March.
"That was the greatest game of my life," Czerniewicz said. "I feel good after today. It was a huge game for us.
"We're ready for the playoffs. We're going to be there."
ENMU coach Brent Owen said his squad spends significant time in practice working on getting offensive rebounds on missed free throws.
"The team kind of gets sick of it, but now they know why we do it," he said.
It ended a heartbreak weekend for the Chaps, who are still fourth in the standings despite one-point, last-second losses at Western New Mexico and ENMU.
"They had a rough weekend, but they have very good players and I'm sure they'll bounce back," Owen said.
Coming off their first home loss of the season two nights earlier against West Texas A&M, the Hounds erased an early 11-3 deficit with a 22-4 run and stayed ahead for most of the game. Early in the second half, LCU began chipping away and finally pushed in front with under seven minutes left following back-to-back 3s by junior guard Rowan Mackenzie.
Another 3 by senior guard Russell Harrison broke a 64-64 tie, and the Chaps led twice by five points before the final rush by ENMU. LCU had four-10ths of a second left after the stickback, but couldn't get off a decent attempt.
Junior guard Grehlon Easter came off the bench for a season-high 19 points for the Hounds, and sophomore forward Errol White added 12. Ealy and Czerniewicz joined them in double figures at the end, both with 10 points.
Harrison went 4-of-6 from deep and finished with 24 points for LCU while Mackenzie, from Australia, added 23 and junior guard Kurt Wegscheider, from the Central African Republic, tossed in 18.
Czerniewicz said it was the second time he's made a last-second game-winner, having done it once while playing for a national team in Poland.
ENMU has three of its final four games on the road, where it has struggled much of the season (2-7).
"We've played some really good teams (on the road)," Czerniewicz said. "But I feel we're going to come back from this trip with a couple of wins."
The Hounds play at Oklahoma Christian on Thursday and at Arkansas-Fort Smith on Saturday, both down in the standings, then next week go home-and-home with WNMU to finish the regular campaign.
"(This) week is the big week," Owen said of the upcoming two tilts. "We have two teams that we should be favored to beat, but it's hard to win on the road in this conference."
