Ex-Aggie, ex-Cibola star lead The Enchantment in first-round win

Evan Gilyard nearly took down The Enchantment one year ago in the Pit when he was playing for the New Mexico State alumni team, the Panamaniacs.

Wednesday, in what could have otherwise been a rather forgettable night for the 5-foot-10 point guard now wearing an Enchantment jersey in this year’s first round of the $1 million TBT (The Basketball Tournament) Regional in Lubbock, Texas. Gilyard knocked down a game-deciding 3-pointer to take down Austin’s Own — a University of Texas alumni team — 77-66.

“Yeah man, because I turned the ball over so much (a game-high nine times to be exact) that’s not like me,” Gilyard told the Journal after the game. “That’s not like me. It was just frustrating to have that type of game, but to pull out the win while having that type of a game, it was just a lot of emotions coming out.”

Gilyard finished with a team-high 16 points, but it came on 6-of-16 shooting to go along with those nine turnovers and just one assist.

His second 3-pointer — which sealed the game with the TBT’s wildly popular but highly unusual Elam Ending format that set the target-winning score at 77 points at the final media timeout — pushed this re-structured Enchantment roster of former New Mexico Lobos, Aggies and a few former Albuquerque prep stars who were never recruited by either school into Friday night’s Round of 32.

“I loved that,” said Cibola High graduate Christian Cunnigham of Gilyard’s game-winner and accidental bracket board destruction after the game.

“Look, man. If that’s going to symbolize something, maybe it’s us trying to come knocking this tournament bracket over, trying to run everything.”

Enchantment plays regional host The Air Raiders, a team of Texas Tech alumni in their home gym, on Friday at 7 p.m. MT in the round of 32.

Cunningham went off for 13 points and 18 rebounds. His game-changing dominance on the glass — 12 of The Enchantment’s 20 offensive rebounds that led to a 17-2 second-chance points advantage — helped overcome Enchantment shooting just 41.8% from the field (28-of-67), 52.9% from the free throw line (9-of-17) and committing 17 turnovers.

“He was awesome, man,” Gilyard said. “We had a whole conversation about it. We said we needed the bigs to come out and play hard, rebound hard and get the ball (to get the team) out in transition.”

Enchantment used a 12-0 run in the first quarter to set a one-sided tone. It included three buckets on fast breaks — two off steals and one off a blocked shot.

While Austin, behind Jacob Young’s game-high 20 points, led 62-59 with under 7 minutes to play, The Enchantment closed the game out with a commanding 18-4 run.

STATS: Enchantment had five players score in double figures, led by Gilyard’s 16 and Cunningham’s 13, followed by Del Norte graduate Scott Bamforth and former Lobo Roman Martinez each scoring 12 and former Lobo Troy Simons with 11, including a key late 3-pointer.

Enchantment out-rebounded Austin 52-26 and 20-3 on the offensive glass.

ELAM ENDING: At the final media timeout of every TBT game, the clock is turned off and a “target score” is set 8-points higher than the leading team’s score.

The first team to reach that target score wins — a format that eliminates constant fouling or delay tactics late in games and ensures every game ends on a made shot.

Wednesday, Enchantment led 69-64 at the final media timeout with 77 being set for the winning score.

A Cunningham dunk, Simons 3 and Gilyard 3 decided the game.

GET BETTER BUTTA: Darington Hobson had a fever and flu-like symptoms this past weekend in Albuquerque, where he had been practicing with the team and was not able to play Wednesday.

Hobson, known by many as “Butta”, could be able to join the team Friday if feeling better.