ANAHEIM, Calif. – The University of New Mexico men’s basketball dropped its final game of the Wooden Legacy Classic, falling 64-57 to Dayton in the fifth-place game Sunday afternoon at the Honda Center. The Lobos are now 4-2 on the season.
“I thought our guys played extremely hard,” head coach Craig Neal said. “They played the way we wanted them to play the last four minutes and forty-nine seconds. Before that, it was unlike us scoring the basketball.”
The Lobos received a combined 32 points from Tim Williams and Elijah Brown. Brown and Williams both finished with 16 points each. Williams shot 7-for-13 from the field while Brown was 4-for-14 from the field. Brown was perfect from the free throw line, going 5-for-5.
Freshman Damien Jefferson was the leader off the bench, scoring nine points. He was 4-for-5 from the field. He also led the team in rebounds with six.
New Mexico started off the game a little slow as they did not score until the 15:56 mark, which gave Dayton an 8-0 run into the first media timeout. The Lobos first point of the game was on a free throw from Sam Logwood. The first field goal for the Lobos came from Jefferson at the 14:31 mark.
Dayton went up by as much at 13 with 4:44 left in the half after taking advantage of the Lobos’ turnovers. The Lobos worked their way back in the game in those four minutes, bringing it within six at half time after a three from Jordan Hunter.
More energy came in the second half for the Lobos as they brought the game within two with 17:11 left in the game. Every time the Lobos would get close to the Flyers, the Flyers would regain a 6-8 point lead.
The Lobos played their best with four minutes left in the game. They brought the game within five after a Joe Furstinger layup. Dayton went back up by seven but the Lobos rebounded and brought themselves within four off a three from Brown.
New Mexico put together a defensive stop to get the ball back. Brown put together a three-point play to bring the game within one. Another defensive stop and a layup from Williams gave the Lobos their first lead of the game with 1:08 left in the game. A foul led Dayton to two made free throws and a one point lead. The Flyers scored six more points the rest of the game to take the win.
The Lobos shot 40.8 percent (20-49) from the field, 50 percent (7-14) from the three and 76.9 percent (10-13) from the foul line. Dayton scored 25 points off the Lobos 16 turnovers and outscored the Lobos 18-14 off the bench.
New Mexico will return home on Wednesday to take on Abilene Christian for the 50th Anniversary game of The Pit. The game is set for 7 p.m. on ROOT Sports. Check back on GoLobos.com for more information on the game.