Feb. 8, 2006
Final Score: New Mexico 80, Colorado State 78
New Mexico improves to 14-9 overall and 5-5 in the Mountain West…Colorado State is 12-11 overall, 1-9 in the league…the Rams have lost seven straight
UNM snaps a nine-game losing streak in games away from Albuquerque…that skid dated to last year…the Lobos had been 0-8 on the road and in neutral games this season
The Lobos’ overcame an 11-point second-half deficit to win…UNM trailed 40-29 after CSU scored the first six points of the 2nd half…the 11-point margin is New Mexico’s largest comeback in an MWC game under head coach Ritchie McKay…the previous best was 9 points against UNLV last year in The Pit…the Lobos trailed in that game 38-29 only to win 62-58
Somehow the Lobos won despite CSU shooting better from the field (57% to 46%) and grabbing more rebounds (33 to 25)…however, the Rams committed 16 turnovers to UNM’s 7, which is a season-low…the Lobos had been 0-6 this season when allowing an opponent to shoot at least 50% from the field
The Lobos had 19 assists to just 7 turnovers…that’s the best ratio (2.7 to 1) by a Lobo team since Jan. 24, 2004, when UNM had 14 assists and just 4 turnovers (3.5 to 1) in a 70-54 victory over Utah
Before tonight’s game, New Mexico had been 4-33 when trailing at halftime under Ritchie McKay…they are now 5-33 with 3 of the wins having come this year (also Air Force and New Mexico State at home)
The Lobos were 1 of 6 from 3-point the first half, but heated up to make 8 of 16 after halftime…they really got hot down the stretch, making 5 of their last 7 in the final 7:28…UNM finished 9 of 22 (41%), the best accuracy in an MWC road games this season
Despite not getting his first points until the 3:59 mark of the first half, senior Mark Walters finished with a team-high 21 points, 16 of those coming in the second half and 11 coming in the final 5:42 of the game…he scored 11 of the Lobos’ final 19 points before fouling out with 6.8 seconds left…Walters gave UNM its first lead since 6-4 when he nailed his second of two straight 3-pointers to make it 68-67…he also had 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and just 1 turnover in 34 minutes
Walters and David Chiotti passed Ike Williams (1,086 points) for 19th and 20th place on the career scoring list…Walters has 1,104 points, Chiotti 1,087
New Mexico received 37 points off the bench, the most since getting 51 points in the 95-42 victory over Ole Miss on Nov. 19…the reserves scored 27 of UNM’s 51 points in the 2nd half…senior guard Kris Collins played 30 minutes, netting a season-high 13 points on 4-6 FGs, 1-2 on 3s and
4-6 FTs…he also tied a career-high with 5 rebounds and added 3 assists, 2 steals and a block…Collins has scored
21 points off the bench the past 2 games, 19 of those coming in the 2nd half
Other key reserves were junior walk-on Kellen Walter
(0.7 ppg) and redshirt freshman Chad Toppert (0.6 ppg)…the twosome came into the game having scored a combined 11 points in nine MWC games…they combined for 14 tonight, all in the 2nd half…Walter had 8 points on 2-3 from 3-point and 2-2 FTs in just 7 minutes…Toppert scored 6 points, making 2-4 3s, and added a career-high 3 assists in 14 minutes
The Lobo bench has now contributed 86 points and 32 rebounds the past 3 games
Senior David Chiotti had 14 points, a team-high 8 rebounds and a career-high 6 assists…he has 569 career rebounds and is 6 from moving into 12th place on UNM’s career list
The Lobos have won 4 straight over CSU, 6 of the past 7 and are 20-2 against the Rams since Feb. 12, 1994
In 61 games between 2003-04, UNM was 3-7 in games decided by 5 points or less…they are 5-0 this season
Averaging nearly 10 ppg, sophomore Tony Danridge did not score for the second straight game…despite only averaging
3 points a game during his freshman season, he was held scoreless in consecutive games just twice last year