Chalk up two wins for the Northern New Mexico College mens basketball team to begin the 2018-19 season.
The Eagles soared through their first two contests and captured large victories, beginning with a 98-77 win Oct. 25 versus the University of The Southwest and another lopsided matchup, 113-74, Oct. 27 versus Ottawa University (Arizona).
With two home wins under their belt, Northern will now prepare to host NCAA Division II Fort Lewis College 7 p.m., Friday. The Skyhawks swept all three games last season as Northern lost twice by 14 points and once by 45.
This year’s newcomers in Makye Richard and Naquwan Solomon have already shown the ability to carry the load, as both players were No. 1 and No. 2 in scoring through the first two games.
Richard set the tone and scored the first five points for Northern in their season opener against Southwest and finished with a team-high 27 points on 58 percent shooting, including 7-of-10 from three-point range.
“I came into tonight feeling great,” Richard said. “My teammates were amazing at finding me when I was open and I capitalize on every opportunity.”
The Eagles certainly spread the ball around efficiently as they tallied 38 assists. With the offense flowing and staying in rhythm, Northern shot 52 percent collectively and 48 percent from beyond the arch.
“We shot such a high percentage,” Northern head coach Ryan Cordova said “Makye hit some unbelievable shots, but he’s always in the gym. He’s a gym rat.”
Solomon brought high-energy to the floor as the Brooklyn, N.Y. native played scrappy inside the paint and drove the ball to the hoop aggressively. He finished 8-of-11 from the field with 20 points and eight rebounds. Junior Jose Rodriguez knocked down all five of his field goal attempts and was a spark off the bench with 13 points.
“We played together as a unit, which the coaching staff preaches every day,” Richard said. “Everyone played their roles and stayed engaged the entire 40 minutes. That was the reason for our success to come away with such a convincing win.”
The first half was more tightly-contested even after Northern built a 30-16 lead with nine minutes remaining. Southwest would go on a run close the gap to 47-38 with a final layup at the buzzer to get within single-digits.
“I was upset,” Cordova said about the ending of the half. “We had a great basket to end the half, then we turn around and give up a layup on the other end. I was like, ‘Hey, don’t rest on the last play.’ I didn’t want these guys to think they could hang around and I wanted to pull away. There was some minor changes that second half and I think they were surprised by it.”
The biggest change was a switch to a zone defense, which took the Mustangs offense out of sync, forcing them to be a jump shooting team — and they went 13-of-30 from the field.
“I think we practiced zone maybe one day the whole year,” Cordova said. “Switching over to that zone and making them actually try and shoot the ball gave them fits and turned into transition baskets on the other side.”
Northern began the second half with an 8-0 run to regain some of the momentum they had lost to end the first half. With the zone in place and the Eagles running to 11 points off turnovers, Northern built the lead as large as 31 points when they held an 81-50 advantage near the midway point.
“That’s a new team with a new coach starting the season on the road,” Cordova said. That’s a tough situation to be in. While our guys did play good, that’s a tough game to be in for them.”
In the Ottawa game, the Eagles used a more balanced scoring attack. Richard led all players with 16 points, followed by Solomon (15), Estevan Martinez (12) and Seth Warfield, who added another 12 as the fourth player in double-digits.