Dec. 30, 2005
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Freshman Ryan Kersten scored a season-high 16 points and David Chiotti had his fourth double-double of the season in New Mexico’s 63-51 win over Texas-Arlington in the championship game of the Lobo Invitational Thursday night.
New Mexico (9-4) won its 18th straight home game and won its 40-year-old holiday tournament for the 29th time.
Texas-Arlington (7-6) never led in the game. The Mavericks had just two field goals and seven turnovers in the game’s first nine minutes and couldn’t overcome a sluggish first half in which they hit just 6 of 22 shots (27.3 percent).
Jermaine Griffin, who scored the Mavericks’ first 10 points in the second half, led Texas-Arlington with 19 points. He hit 9 of 10 shots, most of them lay-ups and dunks.
Chiotti scored 11 points and had 11 rebounds for his eighth career double-double and third in the last four games.
Both teams struggled offensively much of the night and especially at the free throw line, where Texas-Arlington was 7-for-17 and New Mexico 11-of-21.
The Lobos pulled away from a 12-8 lead with an 8-0 run that started with a tip-in basket by Kyle Prochaska and finished with a 3-pointer by Kersten. Kersten, who broke into the starting lineup earlier this month, has scored 62 points in the past six games and has hit 13 of 25 3-pointers.
Point guard Kris Collins scored just 5 points but added a career-high 7 assists for New Mexico.
Jarrett Howell scored 16 points for the Mavericks.