Nov. 5, 2011
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Albuquerque, N.M. — It might be hard to keep Tony Snell on the bench. The sophomore, who most pundits figured would be a spark off the bench, made the most of his second straight exhibition start, draining in 20 points, grabbing four boards, and swatting away three shots as the New Mexico Lobos raced past the Mustangs of Western New Mexico 99-68 in UNM’s exhibition finale.
Snell’s 20 equaled Drew Gordon’s 20 points to lead the club, and they were two of five in double-figures for UNM, who just missed hitting the century mark. Snell was 7-for-11 from the field, hitting 4-of-8 threes as well, doing it all in just 24 minutes.
“He is one of our better defenders. He had three blocks tonight, four assists and no turnovers.” Said head coach Steve Alford of his lanky guard. “Through eighteen practices and two games he’s done a really good job of not just shooting threes. He’s mixing it up. He’s driving the ball and he has got a chance to be really special. You are obviously going to see Tony in the lineup a lot.”
Of course, it wasn’t all Tony Snell. Gordon had 20 points and eight boards, missing several minutes after getting hit in the head while diving for a loose ball and coming up with a bloody nose. Kendall Williams scored 17 points going 9-for-10 from the line. Phillip McDonald, who missed a large portion of the preseason with an ankle injury, saw his first minutes, scoring 11 points, and Demetrius Walker chipped in 10 points as well.
The lead changed hands four times in the opening minutes before Snell fittingly gave UNM the lead for good at the 16:50 mark with a long three-pointer. From there, the Lobos slowly pulled away. Phillip McDonald’s layup and ensuing free throw gave the Lobos a double-digit lead for good with 6:12 to go in the half.
UNM ballooned the lead up to 37 at 80-43 with 12:03 to go in the game. One of the things that fueled the big margin was UNM’s passing, which was rock solid. The Lobos had 21 assists to only 12 turnovers, keyed by Hugh Greenwood, who had six assists without a turnover. It was easy to see his calmness in his second exhibition.
“It was good,” said the Aussie. “It was a lot better than the first one. I felt a lot more comfortable.”
The Lobos now turn their sights to the regular season opener on Friday night against the University of New Orleans. UNM opens with two straight at home (including New Mexico State on Wednesday, Nov. 16) before hitting the road to take on Arizona State and the 76 Classic in Anaheim.
“We should be pretty healthy. AJ (Hardeman) could have played today but we just set him out,” said Alford. “It was good to have Phillip (McDonald) back so we should be as close to one hundred percent health wise on Monday which is good as we get ready to begin the season.”
NOTES: Hugh Greenwood ended the exhibition season with 10 assists and just one turnover … UNM missed their first two free throws and then hit 27-of-28 to end the game.