Jan. 4, 2009
Box Score |
Notes |
Game Action 
Lobo Basketball
Saturday UNLV 60, Lobos 58
Up Next: Lobos vs. UTEP, 7 p.m., Tuesday, The Pit
By Richard Stevens — Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
“Almost” in Las Vegas is never a good thing. Almost means the house won and
you didn’t.
The University of New Mexico had an almost ending Saturday night
in the Thomas & Mack Center as senior Chad Toppert had an open look at a
game-winning 3-pointer and senior Tony Danridge had a shot at a game-tying
follow-up that was tipped and fell short.
“We get a wide-open three at the end and a wide-open put-back at the end and
didn’t execute either one,” said Lobos coach Steve Alford after UNM’s 60-58
Mountain West Conference loss to the UNLV Rebels.
“But I’m very encouraged. I know how good UNLV is. I’m upset. I’m
disappointed. We let a really good team off the hook on their floor, but I’m
encouraged. If we can keep building and getting better from this point on,
it’s going to be a fun conference season.”
The Lobos’ ending at UNLV begs for a Las Vegas analogy and you can bet the
Lobos left Sin City contemplating what might have been with a few more favorable rolls from the rims. The Rebs probably are blessing the intangible odds that usually favor the house.
The Rebs go 2-of-7 from the free-throw line in the final 30 seconds, including an air ball. They
shoot 35.8 percent from the field. They get outrebounded by the visitors 41-to-38 and they escape Thomas & Mack with a two-point win. “Whew” might be the word of the day for Rebels just as “almost” has to be haunting the Lobos.
“I thought our guys really guarded. We had tremendous effort,” said Alford. “We missed
too many lay-ups in the second half and too many free throws. You’re not going to win a lot of games shooting 50 percent at the free throw.”
The Lobos went 9-of-17 from the line (52.9 percent) and shot 40.4 percent from the floor. UNM was paced by 6-foot-9 Daniel Faris with 19 points while Danridge had 10 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 5-of-17 from the floor. Freshman Nate Garth had nine points. UNM’s Roman Martinez did not score and freshman Phillip McDonald had two points.
The Lobos’ problems at the end were similar to the Vegas’ woes. UNM missed too many free throws, had some untimely turnovers and looked at too many empty possessions down the stretch.
“We dominated the paint. Daniel was terrific in the paint,” said Alford, who saw his Lobos drop to 9-6 overall and 0-1 in the MWC race. “We just came up a little short against a very good team.”
The Rebs were paced by Tre’Von Willis with 15 points. UNLV’s Wink Adams did not score in 18 minutes, playing with an abdominal muscle strain. UNLV got the win by outscoring UNM by seven points at the line. The game’s numbers were pretty even in most of the other categories as both teams played tough defense. Effort wasn’t really the problem for either team, but execution often was lacking by both teams.
“I thought we missed some wide-open looks,” said Alford. “We just didn’t make shots. They (UNLV) do a great job of denying things. They take away the 3-ball from you. When we got to half court (offense), we kind of wanted to use their own medicine. We wanted to spread them out. I thought we did that real well.”
UNLV took its biggest lead of the game at 1:03 when Willis blew by Toppert for a lay-up and a 58-53 Reb lead. The Rebs were still up by five after Garth missed two free throws with 53.8 seconds to play.
UNLV could have iced the game at the free-throw line, but failed to do so, and UNM’s Jonathan Wills banged in a 3-pointer to give UNM a chance at 58-56. Alford called a timeout after Wills’ shot with 14.6 seconds to play.
The Rebs got a single free throw by Willis with 13.4 seconds to go. Toppert got fouled on the floor with 9.4 seconds to go and made both free shots to make it 59-58. UNM’s Dairese Gary held Willis on the in-bounds play with no clock movement and Willis was back at the line with 9.4 to go. He made one and UNM’s Gary raced the ball down the court.
Toppert got a decent look at a trey, but had to step past a leaping defender and his shot was long. Danridge got clean control of the rebound, but his follow-up shot was tipped and fell short.
“We had a couple of really wide-open looks and we just didn’t make ’em,” said Alford. “We’re young. We’ve come a long ways since November. If we’ll continue to put forth that kind of effort defensively, we’re going to be hard to play against.”
The Lobos had grabbed a two-point halftime lead at 32-30. UNM jumped up 43-38 at the 12:46 mark on a 3-pointer by Garth.
UNLV got the lead back 45-44 when Rene Rougeau worked UNM’s Martinez on the baseline and threw in a left-handed reverse. The Reb was fouled on the shot and made the free shot to make it 46-44 in UNLV’s favor. Rougeau then hit an 18-footer to give UNLV a 48-44 lead.
The Lobos last lead of the game came with 4:28 to play when Faris went to the line for two free throws and made one to hand UNM a 53-52 lead. UNM had a nice shot to regain the lead at the 2:06 mark when Danridge collapsed the UNLV defense and kicked the ball to Toppert for a wide-open trey in the corner. The shot hit the front of the rim and UNLV got the ball.
UNLV drifted to a 3-point lead at 56-53 when Willis hit two free throws after being fouled by Martinez on a drive. The Rebs then went up 58-53 on Willis’ lay-up and managed to hold off the Lobos down the stretch.
Editor’s Note: Richard Stevens is a former Associate Sports Editor and
sports columnist for The Albuquerque Tribune. You can reach him at
rstevens50@comcast.net. Previous articles are available at The Richard
Stevens Corner