Saint Mary men's basketball traveled to New Mexico for their season opener in the Ohkay Owingeh Classic. The first game came on Thursday night against Northern New Mexico College. The Spires would fall in a heartbreaker 102-100 in overtime.
The Spires would jump out to an early 7-1 lead and keep the lead until just under six minutes left in the first half when Northern New Mexico would make a basket to go up 29-28. Northern New Mexico would close the half from there with an 17-8 run and enter halftime with a 46-36 lead. Saint Mary would trail by 10 with less than a minute remaining in the second half before storming back with a 10-0 run to force an overtime period. The Spires would not be able to complete the come back as Northern New Mexico held on in overtime for the 102-100 victory.
Head Coach Jon Bishop had this to say about his team's performance, "I was worried whether or not we would be game ready for this tournament especially on the offensive end without having any scrimmages going into it. I thought offensively we played well enough to win the game. It was on the defensive end that I was disappointed because that's what caused us to lose this game."
Grant Greenberg was in mid season form as he put up 42 points for Saint Mary. He was 15-25 from the field and 12-13 from the free throw line. Jordan Thomas made an impressive debut with the Spires as he scored 20 points. Brice Plein also scored in double digits for Saint Mary scoring 10 points. Forrest Hicks would lead the team in rebounds with eight. Greenberg also had six rebounds.
"We got down at halftime but battled back to tie it at the end of regulation when Brett hit a big shot. We got a huge stop at the end and had the momentum going into OT. We had our chances to win this game. There were plenty of opportunities we just didn't take advantage of and we have to learn from that to help us down the road be a better team," Bishop added.
The Spires will complete this weekend with two more road games. On Friday, they will take on Johnson and Wales at 3pm to complete their participation in the Ohkay Owingeh Classic. On Saturday, Saint Mary will travel to Carbondale, IL and take on NCAA Division One opponent Southern Illinois.
