The Enchantment faces true road game against Texas Tech alumni in Friday's TBT in Lubbock
Former UNM Lobo Roman Martinez gestures after hitting a corner 3-pointer for The Enchantment in Wednesday鈥檚 win over Austin鈥檚 Own in the first round of The Basketball Tournament in Lubbock, Texas.
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This time, the crowd won鈥檛 be so friendly.
As Wednesday night鈥檚 game between The Enchantment, a team of players with New Mexico ties, and Austin鈥檚 Own, a team of University of Texas alumni, wore on in Lubbock, Texas鈥� United Supermarkets Arena, there was no confusing who the fans in the home gym of the Texas Tech Red Raiders were pulling for.
Even in July, and even when the team on the court is only indirectly connected to that rival school of Longhorns in Austin, Red Raider fans were more than happy to see the team in burnt orange jerseys fall, 77-66, to The Enchantment.
Ex-Aggie, ex-Cibola star lead The Enchantment in first-round win
Former Lobos, Aggies and stars from around New Mexico came together for a big TBT win Wednesday night.
Friday at 7 p.m. MT, in the Round of 32 of the $1 million, winner-take-all tournament, those same fans will direct their disdain toward The Enchantment, which takes on regional host the Air Raiders, a team of former Texas Tech Red Raiders. The game will be streamed on ESPN-plus.
Each team went 1-1 in last year鈥檚 TBT and each was clearly the better team in its Wednesday win 鈥� The Enchantment dominating Austin鈥檚 Own 52-26 on the glass and the Air Raiders beating a team named Purple Hearts 83-64 thanks in large part to scoring 22 points off 17 turnovers.
For The Enchantment, the team of former Lobos, Aggies and three players from New Mexico that weren鈥檛 even recruited by either of their instate schools, the chemistry was surprisingly strong considering the backgrounds. And it helped overcome a poor 41.8% shooting night that included 17 turnovers, nine from starting point guard Evan Gilyard. He said his own and the team鈥檚 struggles never changed their confidence.
鈥淲e probably just had some jitters 鈥� maybe too excited when we came out to play,鈥� said Gilyard, who hit a game-deciding 3-pointer to help him forget about his poor shooting night and 1:9 assist-to-turnover ratio.
鈥淲e missed some shots early but we stayed together. And that鈥檚 what I love about this team. We didn鈥檛 fall through the cracks and we didn鈥檛 just start blaming each other. We stayed together.鈥�
The Enchantment had plenty of working against them in Wednesday鈥檚 win. First, expected starting guard Darington Hobson missed the trip with the flu.
Second, starting guards Scott Bamforth (4-of-15) and Gilyard (6-of-16), missed a combined 21 shots.
Third, the 41.8% shooting from the floor was only part of the problem. The team hit just 9 of 17 (52.9%) free throws.
Still, the team prevailed, thanks in part to familiar clutch outside shooting from former Lobo Roman Martinez (12 points, three 3-pointers) and a 13-point, 18-rebound game from Cibola graduate Christian Cunningham.
FAMILIAR FOE: Ronald Ross, an Air Raiders assistant coach, is a formed Texas Tech player from Hobbs who played in the Pit multiple times, be it in his multiple state championship seasons with the Hobbs Eagles, or with the Red Raiders in the 2005 NCAA Tournament.
