Twin Falls, ID – Freshman
Eric Mejia of the Monroe University men's basketball team dropped a career-high 29 points to lead the Mustangs to a 97-82 victory over Casper College in the opening round of the Battle for the Boot Tournament on Thursday evening.
Mejia was on fire, scorching the Thunderbirds from deep by connecting on six three-point attempts of ten. Overall, the Bronx, NY, native went 10-for-16 from the field with four rebounds and two assists across a team-high 37 minutes.
Additionally, sophomore
Devere Palmer Jr. continued his strong start to the season with a second consecutive 18-point performance to begin the campaign, once again shooting over 50%. Sophomore
Ryan Williams Jr. scored 13, while freshman
Faquir Mosley broke out across 32 minutes with 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
The Mustangs dominated the paint with 38 points compared to Casper's 20. Despite the overhaul in points in the paint, the Thunderbirds led at half, 42-40. But a dominant second half broke the game open.
A 7-0 run to start the half was punctuated by a Mejia three. Mejia continued to threaten the Thunderbirds, scoring from deep to put the Mustangs up double-digits with 16:28 remaining. While Casper cut it to single digits with just over nine minutes remaining, Mejia's three-point barrage continued with a clutch bucket with 7:11 left.
From there, Monroe controlled the pace of the game, holding onto a 12–15-point lead for the remainder of the contest. Palmer Jr. scored 14 second half points, but was overshadowed by Mejia's 15, which included five of his six three pointers.
With the win, the Mustangs line up to take on the No. 1 team in the country, South Plains College, tomorrow in the semi-finals of the Battle for the Boot Tournament.
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE UNIVERSITY
The athletic program at Monroe University encompasses a total of 28 teams competing across nine sports. There are 20 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well as the Monroe University marching band, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has seven teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
For more information about the Monroe Mustangs, please visit us at
www.MonroeUMustangs.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (
Monroe Mustangs Athletics), Twitter (
@MonroeMustangs) and Instagram (
@monroemustangs).
