Feb. 6, 2010
Final Stats |
Quotes |
Notes |
Photo Gallery 
Saturday: Lobos 88, San Diego State 86
Wednesday: Lobos at UNLV, 9 p.m., Thomas & Mack
By Richard Stevens — Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
It was a nail-biter, a cliffhanger, a Pit classic, a battle of Mountain West heavyweights as Lobos and Aztecs played dead even for 44 minutes and 57 seconds.
However, the final three seconds of overtime went to the Lobos as junior Darington Hobson tossed in two free throws to give New Mexico an 88-86 overtime win over the San Diego State Aztecs.
Give the Aztecs credit. They came off the canvas down 10 points in The Pit with 2:05 to play and pushed the Lobos into OT. “They hit some big shots,” said Hobson.
Give the Lobos credit. Steve Alford’s youngsters fell behind three points in overtime and toughened up for the win Saturday in The Pit.
“I knew that I messed up at the end of the game,” said Hobson. “I wanted to redeem myself.”
The end that Hobson was talking about was putting SDSU’s D.J. Gay at the line with one second left in regulation. The Aztec was throwing up a buzzer prayer and Hobson helped Gay out by fouling the Aztec behind the 3-point line with UNM up 78-76.
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Lobo Scoring |
Gay made the first and the last free shot and the two teams rolled into overtime.
Hobson was a key figure at the end of the extra five minutes, too. The game was knotted at 86-all and UNM was working the clock down for a final shot.
“We just wanted to make sure it was the last play,” Alford said of the strategy on that possession. “We were just going to run clock and get a final play.”
Hobson got the ball on the right baseline, glanced up at the game clock on the West side of The Pit and saw he had six seconds to work the baseline.
“I knew I could take my time and use a few moves to get them off balance,” said Hobson. “He (Billy White) grabbed my jersey. The ref did a good job making the call.”
White didn’t like the call at all. Neither did Aztec coach Steve Fisher. Hobson made the shots to end the game, but there was still a moment of tension.
The Aztecs threw a Hail Mary and SDSU’s Kelvin Davis got a nice look at the basket, but bounced a 24-foot trey off the left side of the rim.
“That’s a great basketball team,” Alford said of the Aztecs. “I thought we controlled it and then they made everything down the stretch. They made some big-time shots and we made some careless mistakes.”
Hobson made a lot of big-time shots, too. He finished with 29 points, 12 rebounds, dished out six assists, had three steals and no turnovers.
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The MWC Race Tuesday: |
“Not a lot of people can put up those kind of numbers,” Alford said of Hobson. “Sometimes big-time players have big-time games and I thought this was one of them. It was a pretty special day.”
It was probably fitting that this game went into OT. UNM had a 70-60 lead with 2:05 to play and were up 77-73 with 16 ticks to go. The Aztecs tossed in some treys and were a free throw away from winning in regulation.
Hobson was joined in double figures by A.J. Hardeman and Dairese Gary with 15 points each. Roman Martinez added 11 points.
The Aztecs had six players in double figures with Gay getting 25 with five assists. SDSU won the board battle 35-32 and UNM won the turnover battle with 14 going to SDSU and only eight coming UNM’s way.
Both teams shot 50 percent from the field. SDSU had one more field goal, four more treys, and UNM had eight more free throws.
The Aztecs made four treys in the final 2:02 of regulation to help produce the OT.
“In most game, those end up being bad shots,” said Alford. “They started making those shots. They made a lot of plays. I thought the difference in the game was the foul line.”
The Aztecs thought the same thing. They didn’t think Hobson should have been at the line with three ticks to go in overtime.
“What a great college basketball game to watch,” said Alford. “Both teams knew how important this game was.”
The game probably was more important for the Aztecs, who now drop two games behind the Lobos, UNLV and BYU in the loss column. BYU fell off the top of the MWC mountain with a loss at UNLV.
The Lobos and UNLV will play for first Wednesday in Vegas. The Rebs beat UNM in The Pit. UNM is 21-3 on the season and 7-2 in league. UNLV is 19-4 and 7-2. BYU is 22-3 and 7-2.
The Lobos’ climb to the top of the MWC started with a visit to the bottom. UNM opened 0-2 in league play. “This is a great league and we’ve won seven in a row,” said Alford.
Hobson scored eight of his 29 in overtime. The junior got a huge bucket with 55.4 to play with a 3-pointer that put UNM up 86-85.
The Lobos came out of the half up by five points. UNM went up by eight when Martinez flipped in a short hook followed by a McDonald dunk out of transition.
Lobos Dairese Gary & Darington Hobson |
The Lobos were up 51-43. Hardeman was on the bench for UNM with three quick second-half fouls. The Lobos carried that 51-43 count into the media break at 15:06.
UNM came out of that break and Hobson hit a 20-footer: 53-43, UNM’s biggest lead of the game up to that point. At the 11:30 break, UNM was up 55-48 — seven points.
Hardeman kept the Lobos up by 10 on a dunk off a Gary miss. UNM was up 66-56. The score stayed at 66-56 going into the final media break of the game at the 3:59 mark.
The Lobos went up 68-57 on two Gary free throws and UNM’s 70-60 lead at 2:09 was formed on a Hobson tip after his own miss. Then the Aztecs started launching in their treys.
UNM led 77-73 with 16 seconds to play and the Aztecs needed a semi-miracle to avoid the loss.
The first part of the miracle was Gay throwing up a long trey with two Lobos blocking the sky. It fell and SDSU was down 77-76.
Gary was back at the line with six seconds to go. He made one: 78-76. The Aztecs came down looking to throw up a prayer. Gay threw one up, but was fouled by Hobson with one second to go.
Amazingly, SDSU was at the line with one second to play with a chance to win. After Gay’s miss and the score tied at 78-all, Alford called a timeout.
Gay came out of the break to stand in front of a crazy-loud Pit. He made the shot.
The first half was much like the second half. You had two MWC heavyweights exchanging a variety of precise and powerful blows.
Then you had the biggest punch of the half: a haymaker by Hobson that left his fingertips just before the buzzer and about 55 feet away from the hole. It went swish and UNM carried a 42-37 lead into the half.
That trey helped Hobson pace all scorers in the first half with 13 points