Western New Mexico has not had much success against the Vulcans of Hawaii Hilo in past seasons, especially on the island, but last night with less than 5 seconds left on the clock, Chad Carter got the ball, made a move and nailed a shot with 1 second left to pull out a win, 61-60 in the Naniloa Volcanoes Resort Thanksgiving tournament.

Just like their previous 2 games, WNMU came out of the gate strong building a 12-4 lead early on the strength of a couple of buckets from Carter and Merle Branch along with free throw shots from Brelan Berry. Ryan Crane would later add a 3 point shot to build a 9 point lead, 15-6 at the 12:55 mark of the first half. But just like the previous two games for the Stangs, they cooled off midway through the half and allowed UHH to crawl back into the game. The host Vulcans would take the lead 31-29 with about 3 minutes to go but Western toughened defensively and held UHH scoreless taking a 33-31 lead into the intermission.

Against Grand Canyon and Montana State University Billings, the Mustangs took control coming out of the halftime then faded at the end of the game only to lose in the last 3 minutes of each contest. Last night, Hawaii-Hilo took control early building a 5 point lead quickly and holding for about 6-7 minutes. Then WNMU found their rhythm and began to swing momentum to the purple and gold. Lucio Luttrell gave the Stangs the lead at the 12 minute mark with a baseline jumper, 48-47.
WNMU built their own 5 point lead with eight minutes to go, 56-51 but Hilo wouldn't go away, putting together a 5 point run to tie the game with five and half minutes to play. The teams would trade one point leads for the rest of the game. It was at this point that Carter began to take over the game. Carter and the Mustangs turned up the defense and rebounding. With the score 59-58 in favor of WNMU, Hilo went to the free throw line where they missed both shots. But Brandon Thomas grabbed the rebound and got a put back bucket for a one point Hilo lead with 5 seconds left on the clock. Carter got the inbounds pass at about the 3/4 court mark, dribbled down the floor and nailed a 15 footer to give the Stangs the one point victory.
It was a key win for WNMU, not just their first win of the season against 2 losses, but it was truly a team victory. Carter, a unanimous All RMAC preseason selection, played only 16 minutes due to foul trouble. Lucio Luttrell paced the Mustangs with 12 points to go with 8 rebounds. Carter added 10 on 5-9 shooting as he and Luttrell were the only Stangs scoring in double figures. Merle "Te" Branch added 9 points to go along with a team high 11 rebounds. Juan Suarez did what a he needs to do at point guard, despite scoring only 6 points, he dished out 7 assists with only 2 turnovers. Brelan Berry chipped in 5 points and 4 rebounds along with a block; Andy Solich added 7 points while Ryan Crane and Daryl Littleton each had 6 points in a balanced team effort.
WNMU will conclude tournament play tonight against Maryville College (MO). Game time is 8 p.m. locally and can be heard on KSCQ 92.9 FM and simulcast on the web at www.silvercitysports.com.