Beginning Western Junior College Athletic Conference play at 0-2, the Odessa College men’s basketball team found itself in a must-win situation.
The Wranglers ended up getting exactly what they needed.
Odessa College defeated No. 5-ranked New Mexico Junior College 72-68 Monday at the OC Sports Center.
With the win, the Wranglers moved to 12-5 overall, 1-2 in WJCAC.
New Mexico Junior College fell to 15-2, 1-2.
Leading by three with under a minute to go, Odessa College’s JD Bradford made a crucial free throw to give the Wranglers a 69-65 advantage.
Anthony Simo rebounded a missed shot by New Mexico Junior College’s Deuce Benjamin.
Odessa College’s Ahmere Carson picked up a foul by Benjamin and made one of two shots for a 70-65 lead and a late 3-pointer by the Thunderbirds wasn’t enough.
Bradford scored two more free throws before the final buzzer.
“We won,” Odessa College head coach Kris Baumann said. “It wasn’t pretty at times but I was happy for the kids. They gutted one out and now we’ve won one game. Now we need to see if we can go to New Mexico Military on Thursday and get another one.”
Odessa College was led in scoring by Bradford’s 16 points while Carson had 12 and Samarion Bond finished with 10.
Odessa College went 23-of-48 on field goals, 4-of-16 on 3-pointers and 22-of-31 on free throws.
New Mexico Junior College was led in scoring by Isaiah Alexander’s 16 points while Armon Jarrard had eight.
The Thunderbirds went 20-of-54 on field goals and six-of-25 on 3-pointers and 22-of-37 on free throws.
“New Mexico is fifth in the country for a reason,” Baumann said. “They’re a good team. I thought we played well. I thought we were good on defense. I thought JD Bradford was excellent. He made a huge 3-pointer for us and some free throws down the stretch and we got some other guys that have to make better decisions but I was happy with the win. We’ve been on the wrong side so we had to snap out of this losing streak that we’ve been on which is unusual around here. We need to find a way to build off this and see if we can win another one on Thursday.”
Both teams kept it close in the first half as New Mexico Junior College took a 15-12 lead with 10:21 left.
New Mexico Junior College’s Isiah Alexander scored on a layup to give the Thunderbirds a 17-14 lead.
Odessa College cut its deficit to 22-19 after a layup by Ahmere Carson with 7:20 left.
The Wranglers continued to say on NMJC’s tail and a 3-pointer by Odessa College’s Jojo Muyo made the deficit 24-22 with seven minutes left.
Shortly after, OC’s Tyler Williams tied it up with an inside shot.
A 3-pointer by Simo gave the Wranglers a 29-27 lead with 4:36 left.
Odessa College wasn’t done yet as the Wranglers extended their lead to 33-27 after a layup by Bond with 3:32 left.
Odessa College closed out the half with a 36-32 lead.
The Wranglers kept up their momentum early in the second half, taking a 43-37 lead after a Jordan Trahan free throw.
Carson’s layup made it a four-point advantage for the Wranglers and Jayden Colon followed it up with a layup of his own to extend the lead to 49-43 with 13:17 remaining.
A steal by Bradford led to a dunk.
However, he was called for a technical foul for hanging onto the rim for too long. Deuce Benjamin was sent to the line for NMJC where he made one of two shots and Odessa College’s lead was 51-45 with 12:11 left.
Benjamin hit a 3-pointer to cut the Wranglers’ lead to 53-48 with 10:56 remaining.
A 3-pointer by New Mexico Junior College’s Armon Jarrard brought the Thunderbirds to a 55-51 deficit.
Consecutive free throws by Muyo helped the Wranglers to a 59-52 advantage with 7:19 remaining.
New Mexico Junior College wasn’t quite out of it and a layup by Isaiah Alexander cut Odessa College’s lead to 63-60 with 4:01 left.
However, Odessa College used a quick 5-3 run, highlighted by a 3-pointer from Bradford, to make it 68-63 with 2:46 left.
Odessa College will next face New Mexico Military Institute at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Roswell, N.M.
New Mexico Junior College will next face Howard College at 8:30 p.m. Thursday in Hobbs, N.M.
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