On Friday night New Mexico Military Institute suffered a 101-98 setback to Arizona Western College in the Cahoon Armory Gym. With the loss, the Broncos dipped to 6-6 on the year while Arizona Western improved to 9-2 on the season.
H1
In the first few possessions, Taye Williams and Joel Pinto helped craft an early 13-8 lead as they both scored a three pointer and scored a field goal to record five fast points to establish some offensive rhythm. However, Arizona Western College responded with a 5-0 run to tie the game at 13-13 for the third tie of the game with 15:44 remaining in the half.
After a couple of traded buckets, Arizona Western took a 27-21 advantage with 9:23 in the half as they created the largest lead of the game up to that point. In the next five minutes, the Broncos created a 16-10 run as they were able to tie the game for the sixth time of the half with a 37-37 score and 4:32 left in the first half.
However, Arizona Western finished off the half on a 14-8 run to take a 51-45 lead into halftime.
H2
Down by six to start the second half, NMMI tried to cut into the deficit, but Arizona Western would score each time the Broncos found the bottom of the net. In the first four minutes, Arizona Western jumped out to a 61-47 14-point lead with the help of a made shot by Engel Guitierrez with 16:39 remaining in the contest.
In the next 10 minutes, behind great defense, the Broncos battled back as they trailed 85-83 after Taye Williams drilled a shout from the three-point arc to erase the 14-point advantage by the visitors with 6:34 left in the contest.
Following the basket, the Broncos conducted a quick 7-0 run as they took a 90-85 lead behind a tough fade away by David Popa with just over four minutes remaining in the game.
However, the late push would not be enough as Arizona Western College rattled back to not only tie the game on four separate occasions but close out the contest on a 16-8 run to secure the win 101-98 and end NMMI's three-game win streak.
Head Coach Sean Schooley on the loss, "overall it was a great effort from the guys, that's a really strong team we just played, a well rounded squad. Not happy to be down by double-digits but I am happy with how they battled back late in the second half to get back in front," Schooley said. The Broncos opened the game going 0-for-8 from the free throw line, "one thing that hurt us was our free throws, you miss nine in your home gym, it's not easy to overcome that," Schooley said.
UP NEXT
NMMI will be back in action on Sunday, December 7 when they host Trinidad State College in the Cahoon Armory Gym at 1 p.m. to finish off 2025.