No. 15 T-Bird (MBB) Defeats Frank, Ties Midland & South Plains for 2nd Place. 

The No. 15 ranked NMJC men's basketball team defeated Frank Phillips College 99-70 at home on Thursday, Feb. 26.

The Thunderbirds with the win moved into a tie for the No. 2 spot in the WJCAC standings. The T-Birds (10-4) are tied for second place with South Plains (10-4) and Midland (10-4) in the WJCAC standings trailing Howard (12-2). 

Kemauri Millender had his breakout game Thursday night scoring a career-high 22 points in the win over the Plainsmen. Millender made 6-of-8 3-pointers and notched four rebounds and two steals. 

The T-Birds led 13-7 with 14:28 to go in the first half. Then Millender sparked the Thunderbirds with his own 11-0 run. The sophomore started with a layup and then hit back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers to give NMJC a 24-7 advantage. 

The T-Birds finished the first half ahead 51-33 following another Millender 3-pointer just prior to time expiring. NMJC shot 10-of-23 from beyond the arc in the first half. 

It did not get any better in the second half for Frank Phillips. The T-Birds led by as many as 33 points and the onslaught from 3-point territory continued. The Thunderbirds hit seven more triples in the second half for a total of 17 3-pointers made. The total was three off the school record for 3-point makes of 20 which was set in 2014.

The T-Birds went on to defeat Frank Phillips by 29 points, 99-70.     

Sophomore guard RJ Nance was the only other T-Bird in double figures with 11 points. Grigorije Avramovic finished with nine points and three assists. Kenny Fields recorded eight points and seven rebounds. 

Forward Yanel Datilus finished with eight points and three rebounds in just eight minutes of play. Marquan Harris was the third T-Birds with eight points versus Frank Phillips. Garrison Phelps grabbed a team-high eight rebounds in the win.  

The T-Birds shot 33-for-67 (49.3%) from the field, 17-of-45 (37.8%) from the 3-point line, and 16-of-28 (57.1%) from the free throw line. NMJC held the Plainsmen to 34.5% from the field.

The No. 15 Thunderbirds improve to 23-5 (10-4) on the year and will take their final regular season road trip to Roswell, NM to face New Mexico Military Institute Monday, March 2 at 6 p.m. MST.