Peter Dindinger — NMMI Sports Press
It was going to take a monumental effort for the New Mexico Military Institute men's basketball team to upend NJCAA No. 1 ranked South Plains College.
The Broncos battled to the very end as they trailed by two at halftime, but they didn't have enough gas in the tank towards the waning minutes as they dropped to the Texans 81-71 Monday night at the Godfrey Athletic Center.
"I thought my guys played extremely hard and played well together," said NMMI head coach Sean Schooley. "This is probably the best team effort we've had.
"South Plains is very talented. They're very big, they can score. I thought we dug deeper and played harder than them."
South Plains (15-0, 9-0) held a six-point lead with 13:16 in the opening half before NMMI fought back to chisel down the deficit to two.
The Texans increased their lead to 11 with 6:38 to go until halftime.
At the half, Furaha Cadeaux de Dieu led the Broncos with 12 points and nine rebounds while Khaleb Wilson-Rouse chipped in with 11 points.
Jay'veon Coleman added with seven points.
South Plains' Rivaldo Soares led all scorers with 15 points.
NMMI (3-7, 2-5) was narrowly outscored 36-28 in the second half.
The Broncos kept the game within reach, trailing by six with 12:25 on the clock but South Plains used its size to barely out rebound NMMI 44-42.
South Plains increased its lead to nine points with under three minutes to go in the game.
The Texans had four players in double-digit scoring figures.
Soares had 20 and Gai finished with 12 while Philmon Gebrewhit and Myron Gardner had 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Gardner finished with a double-double, grabbing 10 rebounds.
South Plains shot 27 of 59 from the field and 17 for 20 from the charity stripe.
Cadeaux de Dieu had another solid night for NMMI, recording a double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
Wilson-Rouse led all scorers with 26 points while shooting a perfect 11 for 11 from the free throw line and coming away with a pair of steals.
Coleman and Jeremiah Barr each chipped in with seven points.
NMMI went 26 of 75 from the field.
The Broncos have seven games left in the regular season, with five being at home. NMMI hosts Midland College at 6 p.m. Thursday.
"That was by far (Cadeaux de Dieu's) best game," Schooley added. "Anytime you can get 18 (points) and 13 (rebounds) in this conference battling a team of that size — that says a lot about his character.
"My coaching staff did a great job today too. Everybody stayed really engaged. If we can continue to play at that type of intensity, I think we can do some nice stuff."