No. 15 T-Bird (MBB) Suffers Heartbreak at No. 9 Midland

No. 9 Midland College snapped the Thunderbirds 7-game winning streak in a heartbreaking 69-68 loss on Monday, Feb. 23.

The game featured 16 lead changes between the Chaps and T-Birds. 

NMJC trailed at the break 38-35. An RJ Nance layup at the 15:44 mark in the second half gave the Thunderbirds the lead at 44-42. The T-Birds largest lead of the game was 11 points, 56-45, with 10:59 left. 

The Chaps regained the lead on a 3-pointer to make the score 60-58 with 4:41 left. NMJC responded with a 9-1 run to hold a 67-61 advantage with under 1:30 in the game. 

Kemauri Millender stepped out of bounds and turned the ball over for NMJC on their side of the court with 1:02 to go in the game up six. The Chaps got a layup with 46 seconds to go to cut the deficit to 67-63. A turnover by Grigorije Avramovic and a foul put the Chaps right back in it following two free throws to make it 67-65 with 42 seconds left. 

Millender was then fouled with 38 seconds left in the game. The sophomore guard missed the 1-and-1 free throw and Midland took it the other way, tying the score at 67 on a high arching layup with 28 seconds left. 

The Chaps fouled Nance by accident with 24 seconds remaining after not knowing the score was tied. The sophomore guard shot two free throws missing the first, but he knocked down the second to give NMJC a 68-67 lead. 

The Chaps drove down the floor and missed a jumper but a botched no foul push in the back happened on the rebound resulting in a rebound put back that pushed Midland ahead by one, 69-68 with 11 seconds left. 

Nance had a chance to win the game for NMJC, but his 3-pointer just shy of the buzzer went off the back rim and Midland survived the T-Birds upset bid.    

RJ Nance was the leading scorer for the T-Birds registering 19 points. Kemauri Millender recorded nine points. 

Sophomore Garrison Phelps has seven points and seven rebounds. Delang Muon also added seven points. Ladji Coulibaly finished the game with a team-high eight rebounds. Grigorije Avramovic ended the night with five rebounds and three steals. 

The foul discrepancy in the second half was 17-10 in favor of Midland.  

The T-Birds shot 25-for-65 (38.5%) from the field, 6-of-25 (24%) from the 3-point line, and 12-of-22 (54.5%) from the free throw line. NMJC held the Chaps to 37% from the field.

The T-Birds (9-4) are tied for third place with South Plains (9-4) in the WJCAC standings, trailing Midland (10-4) and Howard (11-2).The No. 15 Thunderbirds drop to 22-5 (9-4) on the year and will face Frank Phillips in Hobbs, NM Thursday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. MST.