Thunderbirds hold off Frank Phillips for fifth straight

HOBBS, N.M. — A 14-0 run near the end of the first half gave the New Mexico Junior College men's basketball team the lead and it withstood a late Frank Phillips charge to avenge a loss from earlier in the season in a 74-67 victory Thursday at Caster Activity Center.

NMJC (17-6, 6-3) trailed 23-22 with less than five minutes left in the first half after trading the lead with Frank Phillips (14-9, 3-6) nine times.

That's when the T-Birds embarked on their 14-0 run highlighted by a Nick Billingsley 3-pointer and a Randy Haynes three-point play to make it 35-23 as NMJC took a 35-27 lead into the half.

The T-Birds' lead was cut to 43-40 before they slowly built the lead to double digits at 60-44 thanks to a 7-0 run capped by a Cullen Russo three-point play with 5:09 left.

However, the Plainsmen rallied and cut the NMJC lead to 70-65 and had possession with 1:11 left.

But Frank Phillips, which beat NMJC 74-71 in overtime on Dec. 3, missed a point-blank shot that would've cut the NMJC lead to three and the T-Birds went 4-for-6 from the charity stripe down the stretch to close out the win.

The victory is the T-Birds' fifth in a row as NMJC sits in third place in the WJCAC – two games back of Howard (8-1) and a game and a half behind South Plains (7-1). NMJC is a game in front of New Mexico Military Institute and Odessa College – who are tied for the fourth and what would be the final spot in the Region V Tournament.

Malique Trent, who was the WJCAC Player of the Week last week, paced NMJC with 26 points while Randy Haynes had 10, Nick Billingsley and Rene Esparza each had nine and Russo finished with seven points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals.

Stan Whittaker led Frank Phillips with 22 points while Lucious McKay had 13.

NMJC dominated the boards, outrebounding Frank Phillips 62-36 to help overcome the T-Birds' 25 turnovers.

NMJC hosts NMMI on Monday.