ROSWELL, NM — The South Plains College men's basketball team dropped a conference road matchup with New Mexico Military Institute 77-71 on Monday night at the Godfrey Athletic Center.

South Plains moves to 12-9 on the season and 6-3 in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference and will be back on the road Thursday when they square off with Howard College at 7:30 p.m. in Big Spring. The contest will stream live at spctexans.com and can be heard locally on KLVT Radio AM1230.

The Texans shot a 42.6 percent clip against the Broncos and were just 3 of 20 from the 3-point line over 40 minutes. South Plains held a 39-35 lead at the midway point, as Marcus Burnett dropped in nine points for SPC in the front half.

The Broncos would rally in the second half, shooting 48 percent from the floor and 60 percent from distance in the final 20 minutes. The Bronco's Latik Murphy led all scorers with 21 points and seven rebounds, while Jonathan Salazar recorded 14 points and 13 boards. Chris Bready chipped in 15 points for NMMI, and Luis Varon tallied 10 points and four rebounds.

DJ Avery led South Plains on the offensive end, netting 12 points to go along with 10 boards, seven coming on the defensive end. Burnett finished with 14 points while Khalifa Sakho poured in 12 points and snagged seven boards.