Karen Boehler
CCSR writer/editor
It's a jumper by Bronco Sedric Martin against WTC's Ade Barak.
(Photo courtesy Patrick Haney)
Despite a nearly packed house, television cameras, cheerleaders and the drum corps, the Bronco basketball team still couldn’t overcome Western Texas College Tuesday, but did give a good second-half effort.
Whether it was the crowd, the cameras or the realization that for some, this would be their last game ever at NMMI, the Broncos (8-20, 1-13) came back from a 30-point halftime deficit to trail by as little as 13, eventually falling 76-61.
It was literally a tale of two halves, and the stats told the story in the first half.
While the Westerners (15-12, 5-9) shot .621 from the field and .500 from outside — a .621 average — in the first half, NMMI was a woeful .333, .143 — .219.
Add in a 3-for-4 effort from the free-throw line for West Texas compared to 2-for-6 for NMMI, and the Westerners had a runaway heading into the locker room, up 45-17.
But the second half was different, and neither coach could say why.
“I don’t have a reason,” said Bronco coach Sean Schooley. “I’ve done everything from chew them at halftime to show them what they’re doing wrong. This team is just a little bit limited, and sometimes, that’s all you can get out of them is spurts.”
Westerners coach Jason Sautter also didn’t have an answer.
“I don’t know if NMMI did it to us or we did it to us,” Sautter said.
Whatever the reason, after Western Texas stretched their led to 30 with an opening field goal by Malcom Herron — who was one of two Westerners with 14 points — Travourus Williams hit only the second Bronco trey of the night.
The teams then traded points for a short while before NMMI, led by sophomore Sedric Martin, started pouring it on.
The Broncos outscored West Texas 44-21 in the second half, picking up four 3s and holding the Westerners to their longest scoreless period of the game — a little more than three minutes.
In the final seven minutes of the game, NMMI held the Westerners to only one field goal — their remaining 16 points came from a solid effort at the charity stripe.
Martin tallied 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second, and picked up 13 of his 16 rebounds.
That drew praise from both coaches.
“Sedric played fantastic, and there were college coaches all over him today that had come to watch Western’s guys play, and they love him,” Schooley said.
Sautter agreed.
“Sedric Martin, he should be an all-conference player, regardless of their record,” Sautter said. “It doesn’t matter who he plays. Like he had 20 (points) and 16 (rebounds) tonight. I know as a head coach I’m going to vote for him. I don’t know anyone else getting 20 and 16 almost every night.”
As for everyone else, Evan Gilliland was the only other Bronco in double figures, tallying 13 points including three from beyond the arc.
Jeremy Jones was the other Westerner with 14 points, while Will Harrison had 10.
From the stands, it seemed like NMMI wanted the game more in the second half, and Schooley agreed.
“That’s what I was tying to explain to them in the first half but it didn’t register,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re shooting well or not. You can always compete and play defense and guard people and we just didn’t do it in the first half. We played man, they got by us. We played zone, they shot over us. Then in the second half our guys decided to rally up and play. So I’m pleased, because it could have been 90-30. So we came back and played OK.”
The game ends the season for the Bronco players, but not for Schooley. For him and the coaching staff, the hard work is just beginning.
“We’ve got off on a really good start on our recruiting for next year,” he said. “I have a couple of kids who are going to be back and some of them probably won’t. Got some big kids coming back. We’ve just got to do a better job.
“When you’re playing top teams that are in the top 15, top 20 in the nation, No. 1 you have to have the talent level to do it. No. 2, you have to have the talent level along with the desire to compete. It’s always a crap shoot, but we’re going to go out and try to find better players next year.”
For more sports news, go to Chaves County Sports Report