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WTC sophomore Tafari Simms scored 21 points in the Westerners’ 81-69 loss to New Mexico Junior College Thursday.
HOBBS, NM — Despite 20-point performances from sophomores Darius Mickens and Tafari Simms, the Western Texas College men’s basketball team could not keep their losing streak from hitting four games after an 81-69 loss to New Mexico Junior College (NMJC) Thursday.
Mickens and Simms combined to score 43 of the Westerners’ 69 points, but WTC struggled to find offense from other players.
Over the first three minutes, NMJC jumped out to an early 5-0 lead but layups from WTC freshman C.J. Smith and Simms pulled WTC to within a point.
Both teams’ defenses stiffened and neither team scored for the next several minutes until a Thunderbird jumper and 3-pointer gave them a 10-4 lead.
WTC responded with a Simms’ 3-pointer and an Arseniy Semenov dunk to get back within a point. NMJC responded with a 5-0 run of its own.
Heading into the final 10 minutes of the first half, WTC went on a 12-2 run and grabbed its first lead.
The lead went back and forth over the next few minutes, but a last second jumper from NMJC sophomore Terence Lewis put the Thunderbirds ahead, 35-34 heading into the half.
WTC continued to play catch-up for the rest of the second half.
NMJC was ahead until the 10-minute mark, when a pair of Smith free throws tied the game 50-50. NMJC answered with four straight points to retake the lead. The teams traded buckets until the 4-minute mark, when NMJC began to pull away.
NMJC outscored WTC 16-10 over the final four minutes, closing out the 81-69 win.
After the loss WTC fell to 3-6 in Western Junior College Athletic Conference play. NMJC is in second place in the WJCAC standings and WTC falls to sixth.
The Westerners will look to right the ship when they return home to take on South Plains College at 7:30 p.m. Monday at The Coliseum. The Westerners will be home for four of their six February games.
WTC statistics: Darius Mickens, 22 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 assist; Tafari Simms, 21 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals; C.J. Smith, 12 points, 5 assists, 1 rebound; Donovan Reagan, 4 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block; Steven Allison, 4 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block; Arseniy Semenov, 4 points, 1 rebound; Ben Smith, 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal.