POSTGAME NOTES | PDF BOX SCORE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team (16-13, 9-7 MW) took its third home loss of the season Saturday, falling to the Fresno State Bulldogs (20-9, 11-5 MW), 92-82.
“Have to give Fresno State credit, they came in here and played really intense, played physical,” said head coach Craig Neal. “I thought we got off to a really good start, up 20-9 and then our Achilles heel showed up and we didn’t get back in transition, we didn’t guard people. I just think we’ve got to get more in tune with the scheme and guys have got to play through things. We have to learn how to guard. We’re working on it and we’re trying to do some things, but at no time in the second half did I think we got down and guarded people and stopped them. We have to do some soul searching with the guys and try to figure out and try to get better at that.”
Elijah Brown set new career highs Saturday with 41 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. His 41 points on 13-for-23 shooting is the most points scored inside WisePies Arena since 2003. His season point total of 633 now ranks ninth all-time. Tim Williams scored 18 points and pulled down six rebounds. He finished the night shooting 7-for-9 from the floor. Cullen Neal registered nine points with five boards.
Fresno State struck first Saturday by scoring the first seven points. The Lobos answered with an 11-0 run to take the lead. Their run ballooned to 22-2, giving the home team their largest lead of the game at 22-9 with 11:27 remaining. The Lobos led for the rest of the half, but the Bulldogs cut their deficit to 43-41 at the break.
Over the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Lobos and Bulldogs went back and forth, with neither leading by more than two possessions. With the Lobos up, 62-61, Fresno State went on an 8-0 run to take a lead they would not give up. While the Lobos kept firing away on offense, the Bulldogs fended them off by shooting 7-for-10 over the last seven minutes.
The Lobos finished the game shooting 53.8 percent (28-for-52) from the floor and an even 50 percent (6-for-12) from 3-point range. Fresno State shot 50 percent (30-for-60) from the floor and 41.7 percent (10-for-24) from deep. The Lobos won the rebounding battle, 34-25.
Starters Sam Logwood and Obij Aget scored five and three points, respectively. Xavier Adams scored four points off the bench, while Joe Furstinger registered two points, four rebounds and two assists.
The Lobos will wrap up their home schedule and celebrate Senior Night Tuesday against San Diego State at 7:30 p.m.
(2/27/2016) MBB v. Fresno State