Strong second-half performance leads Broncos past Western Texas College, 72-61

Left: David Popa dropped in 25 points, including 19 in the second half, to help the Broncos final their final game of the season. Center: Excellent night in the paint for Taye Williams with seven points and six rebounds. Right: Siosiua Tu'akoi went off in the second half as well with six buckets and a free throw, including this one-handed slam that got the crowd on their feet. (NMMI Sports Press photos).
Left: David Popa dropped in 25 points, including 19 in the second half, to help the Broncos final their final game of the season. Center: Excellent night in the paint for Taye Williams with seven points and six rebounds. Right: Siosiua Tu'akoi went off in the second half as well with six buckets and a free throw, including this one-handed slam that got the crowd on their feet. (NMMI Sports Press photos).
Posted: Mar 07, 2025

On Thursday evening, New Mexico Military Institute concluded their regular season with a 72-61 win over Western Texas College in the Cahoon Armory Gym. With the win, the Broncos end the season with an 8-21 overall record and 3-13 mark in conference play. The Westerners conclude their season with a 5-11 record in conference play and a 14-16 overall record.

H1

Getting the starting nod, Jonah Lopez opened the game by sinking a three as he was fouled before converting the four-point play opportunity. In the next three minutes, NMMI jumped out to a 14-6 lead after David Popa drilled one of his made threes. However, Western Texas responded with a 8-0 run to tie the game at 14-14.

With just over nine minutes left in the half, the Westerners conducted a 17-7 run to end the half with a 31-21 advantage. In the first half, Jonah Lopez led all scorers with seven points.

H2

Down 10, the Broncos had no quit in them. Both teams traded buckets to open the second-half but NMMI was able to make it a 35-31 ball game with the help of five consecutive buckets by Siosiua Tu'akoi. With just over 13 minutes left in the half, Taye Williams drilled a deep three to tie the game at 42-42. The teams traded leads in a couple of possessions before Popa hit a mid-range jumper to lead 51-47 with 8:49 remaining in the game.

From that point on the Broncos did not flinch. With the help of 23 second-half points by Popa, the Broncos were able to grow their lead to a game-high 13 points as Popa knocked down a pair of free throws to give NMMI a 72-59 advantage.

Head Coach Sean Schooley on the win, "So we come out the second half and only turn the ball over five times. We did a great job of holding them off the glass. It was an overall good team effort. We played much better defense in the second half," Schooley said. "It really comes down to the defense, Popa and Bramao have really turned it up on the rebounds. That's big time, it makes a difference. There's the one time to be selfish on the glass. Overall just a bitter-sweet deal to end the year."

Popa led all scorers with 25 points on 8-for-15 shooting from the field with nine rebounds in the process. Justin Bramao finished with 11 rebounds – his fourth game with double digit rebounds for the Broncos.

 

 

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