Cochise knocks off AWC men

Arizona Western men’s basketball was nearly able to erase two separate double-digit deficits in the second half Wednesday night at home, but ultimately came up short against Cochise College.

The Mats (8-3 overall, 3-1 ACCAC) fell to the Apaches (8-2, 3-1) 86-79 after fighting back-and-forth.

That score wasn’t without some up’s and down’s for AWC, with the team’s two leading scorers coming into the game each having off nights. Sophomore guard Alfonso Plummer (18.4 points per game) only scored eight points after going 0-for-8 from three and sophomore forward Andre Allen (13.8 ppg) had four points.

Without those two having big nights, the team had to look for productivity elsewhere, starting with freshman guard Bryson Langdon (16 points) and freshman center Abderrahmane Hailouf (12 points and 13 rebounds).

“Just like Andre and Alfonso had a bad game, this was his (Hailouf) best game,” AWC coach Charles Harral said. “With freshmen usually during the first semester they have to figure some things out. Some

CC: 8-2 overall, 3-1 ACCAC AWC: 8-3 overall, 3-1 ACCAC

games they are going to have better games than others. It’s just getting them all together and getting them organized by January.”

The Mats took an early 17-11 lead in the game after eight minutes, led by Marvin Mapaga’s play on the inside. He had five of his 10 points in those minutes and his team led early.

Cochise began to find some soft spots in the AWC 3-2 zone with sophomore guard Mahki Morris. He kept popping up in open spots around the 3-point arc and he made the Mats pay. Morris made five of his six 3-pointers in the first half en route to a 23-point performance.

His teammate, freshman guard Chris Whitaker, took advantage when the attention shifted to Morris, scoring 25 points of his own.

Those two helped the Apaches to a 44-36 halftime lead.

“We’re kind of good in zone and good in man,” Harral said. “I felt like they had one guy, number one (Morris), who could make threes. He made five in the first half.

“We thought if we covered him then the other guys weren’t going to get go-