T-Birds knock off Midland, gaining ground in WJCAC

HOBBS, N.M. — The New Mexico Junior College men's basketball team got 25 points from Malique Trent, a double-double from Kimani Jackson and survived three game-winning 3-point attempts by Midland College in the final 10 seconds for a 66-64 victory Thursday on Ron Black Court at Caster Activity Center.

The Thunderbirds (14-6, 3-3) led for much of the second half before Midland College's Torren Jones scored with 1:02 left in the game to give the Chaps (12-8, 2-4) a 64-63 lead.

NMJC didn't trail for long as the T-Birds went right inside to the 6-foot-8 Jackson and the freshman scored as he was fouled with 45.6 seconds left. His free throw was no good and NMJC held a 65-64 lead.

Midland missed a pair of free throws on its next possession and Trent was fouled with 26.2 seconds left. Trent split the free throws to make it 66-64.

After working the ball around, the Chaps got a pair of 3-point attempts off in the final 10 seconds but didn't connect on either as the ball went out of bounds to NMJC.

But NMJC missed a pair of free throws with 4.4 seconds left, giving Midland a last chance but its 3-pointer from near half court came up short.

Trent's 25 points for NMJC came thanks to a 6-for-11 performance from beyond the arc. He also had a team-high three steals.

Jackson finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds for the T-Birds while Cullen Russo had 12 points.

Jones led Midland with 21 points and nine rebounds.

With the win, NMJC moves within a half game of Frank Phillips for fourth place in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference. The top four teams make the Region V Tournament.

NMJC travels to take on Howard College on Thursday in Big Spring, Texas.