Northern New Mexico College in tournament
The Northern New Mexico men’s basketball program has continued a trend, and Ryan Cordova hopes it gets noticed — especially by those in high places.
For the seventh time in the last nine years, the Eagles will hit the road for the NAIA Association of Independent Institutions Men’s Basketball Championships after they earned the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament that begins Feb. 22 in Lincoln, Ill. They take on No. 3 Voorhees College of Denmark, S.C., in a first-round game.
Unlike in past years, when the conference received only two bids into the NAIA National Men’s Basketball Tournament, the 10 remaining teams are playing for three spots to get into the national tournament.
Cordova said Voorhees was the preseason favorite to win the conference, while Northern New Mexico was rated third. The Bulldogs come in on a nine-game winning streak, but the Eagles are hitting their stride, having won four of their last five games.
“We got our work cut out for us,” Cordova said. “It’s a good thing, though, because we like doing work.”
And Northern New Mexico has put in the work to overcome some midseason obstacles. The Eagles lost leading scorer Bryce Simmons, key rotation player Jose Rodriguez and a couple others to poor academic performance, which affected their depth. Down to 11 out of a possible 15 players, Cordova became more selective in playing his normal up-tempo style while also trying to become more effective in taking care of the ball.
“We just have to be a bit more methodical,” Cordova said. “Maybe press and pick up the pace when teams are getting tired, like in the last five minutes of the first half, or right about the 12-minute mark in the second. Those are good times to used our athleticism and pace and make little runs.”
The absence of Simmons and Rodriguez, a 2017 Albuquerque Rio Grande graduate, opened up