Men's Basketball Leads Wire to Wire in LSC Opener

SILVER CITY, N.M. — First-year Head Coach Bubba Meyer was hopeful entering the season the depth of the St. Mary's University Men's Basketball team would be a strength, and depth was definitely a big factor in the wire-to-wire 76-63 win at Western New Mexico to kick off Lone Star Conference action.
 
Five players scored nine or more points for the Rattlers (4-1, 1-0 Lone Star), led for the second-straight game by senior Keith Dinwiddie (Los Angeles, Calif.). Dinwiddie scored a career-high 19 points, while junior forward Franklin Agu (London, England) became the seventh different Rattler to score in double digits this year, coming off the bench to post 12.
 
Senior guard Jalon Johnson (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) hit double digits in the scoring column for the fifth-straight game this season, adding 11 points and he was one of three with three assists. Both Seny N'Diaye (Dakar, Senegal) and Diego Gonzalez (Arecibo, Puerto Rico) tallied nine points in the balanced attack for the Gold and Blue.
 
Senior Tyler Caron (Longview, Texas) paced the team with seven rebounds as all nine Rattlers who played grabbed at least two boards, helping StMU dominate in the paint, 46-to-22.
 
St. Mary's shot 49.1 percent from the field, including 51.7 percent in the first half, where they built a double-digit lead. The Rattlers closed the first half on a 7-0 run over the final 58 seconds to push the lead back to 15, 41 to 26 and they held WNMU (2-4, 0-1 Lone Star) to 24.1 percent shooting in the first stanza.
 
Allen Fordham led the Mustangs with 17 points, while LaMarqus Merchant Jr had a game-high eight rebounds and six assists. The Mustangs shot 33.3 percent for the game (19-for-57).
 
The Rattlers take their 4-1 record to Portales for a Saturday afternoon matchup with Eastern New Mexico. The Greyhounds won a lopsided affair on Thursday, 103-70, against St. Edward's to move to 3-2 on the year.