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Men's Basketball Upended by TTU in Final Minute

BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY | POST-GAME NOTES | POST-GAME QUOTES

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — For the first time since 2006-07, the Lobos have opened their first four games with three scoring over 90 points, but it wasn’t enough on Tuesday night as Tennessee Tech pulled ahead for good in the final minute for a 103-96 win over New Mexico in Dreamstyle Arena – The Pit.

Junior Chris McNeal led UNM with 29 points on the night marking the third time this season he has scored in double digits, the second over 20 points. McNeal went 8-for-16 from the field and 7-for-11 from behind the arc to go along with 6-of-8 from the free throw line.

Tennessee Tech (4-1) started the game going 0-for-10 from the field over the first 5:31, allowing the Lobos (2-2) to go on an 8-0 run and claim a nine-point advantage (10-1) with 14:29 left to play in the first half. The Lobos extended their lead to 14 over the next four minutes (24-13, 10:10) until TTU’s Aleksa Jugovic scored a trio of 3-pointers in the next three Golden Eagle possessions to cut the UNM lead to eight. 

TTU closed the final 10:40 of the first half shooting 15-of-19 from the field. In the first half, Jugovic couldn’t miss, going 8-for-8 from the field including 6-for-6 from 3-point range and 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. His efforts helped make it a one-point game with 10 seconds left in the half until a Dane Kuiper three with two seconds on the clock stretched the Lobo lead to four at the half.

“You have to tip your cap to them,” head coach Paul Weir said. “They shot the heck out of the ball tonight and made a lot of shots at the back of it. Some of them were tough and some of them were probably on us. They were good, and they were better than us tonight.”

McNeal got hot toward the end of the first half, drilling three-straight threes in under a minute and picked up where he left off. He opened the second half with a three 17 seconds in to give the Lobos what would be their largest lead of the second half, seven (58-81), before the teams battled throughout the remainder of the contest.

With the Lobos trailing by one point with 1:06 left to play, 94-93, the Golden Eagles took off on an 8-0 run over 35 seconds to get out to a nine-point lead, 102-93 with 21 seconds left. Kuiper drained another three with 12 seconds left to give the Lobos hope, 102-96, but the six-point margin was too much for the final seconds.

McNeal paced the Lobos with 29 points and was followed by senior Sam Logwood with 21. The last time UNM had a pair of 20-point scorers was almost a year ago on January 7 against Nevada.

The third Lobo to score in double figures on the night was junior Anthony Mathis who notched 11, going 4-for-7 from the field and 3-for-6 from three. The outing marked the third time this season that he registered double digits.

Senior Joe Furstinger neared a double-double on the night, scoring seven points and bringing down nine rebounds. He also tied his career-high in blocks with four.

As a team, the Lobos shot 40.6 percent from the field compared to 55.7 percent for TTU. Similarly, UNM went 41 percent from three compared to 54.5 percent to the Golden Eagles, but the Lobos did have the advantage in free throws, shooting 82.8 percent (24-29) from the line compared to just 75 percent (24-32) for TTU.

After suffering drastically on the glass against New Mexico State, the Lobos stepped up their rebound game but were still outrebounded 39-32.

TTU registered 42 points in the paint to 20 for UNM and held a 49-9 fast-break point advantage. The Lobos edged the Golden Eagles in second-chance points, 13-9, and in points off of turnovers, 24-22.

“We looked like the ninth-place team in the Mountain West tonight,” Weir said. Which I never thought we were going to be and we just have to do everything in our power to make sure that this is not going to be our final destination. All I can tell you is that we are going to do whatever we can to work our way out of whatever we’re in right now.”

“We’re not discouraged,” McNeal said. “We’re just going to try and bounce back, come back tomorrow and work even harder. Try to turn this around.”

UNM will return to action on Friday, Nov. 24 when the Lobos compete in the third round of the Emerald Coast Classic against TCU at 5 p.m. MT. TCU is currently receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Both Friday and Saturday’s games will be available to watch on CBS Sports Network.