Nov. 16, 2011
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New Mexico Lobos Men’s Basketball – In The Pit
Wednesday: New Mexico State 62, Lobos 53
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
Lobo coach Steve Alford was wrong about the New Mexico State Aggies. The Aggies aren’t huge. They are Big-East massive.
The New Mexico State Aggies stepped into The Pit Wednesday night, flexed some very real muscles, frustrated the Lobos inside and out, shot 38 free throws, and handed the Lobos a 62-53 non-conference loss in front of 15,303.
“We just got a wake-up call,” said Tony Snell, who led all scorers with 18 points. “They (Aggies) really wanted it. We didn’t come in with a mindset that we have to protect this house.”
Alford had touted the Aggies as possibly the best NMSU team his Lobos have faced in Alford’s reign at UNM and the Aggies did nothing to suggest otherwise.
“We never got into rhythm and I have to give State a lot of credit for that,” said Alford. “We got into foul trouble with our bigs and it was our worst shooting night and our worst offensive output since I’ve been here.
“That’s (28 percent shooting) never happened to us, but again I have to give State credit.”
NMSU held UNM to 14-of-50 shooting (28 percent) while holding UNM’s inside trio of Drew Gordon, A.J. Hardeman and Cameron Bairstow to two field goals. Gordon played only 21 minutes and Bairstow played 16 minutes.
The Lobos got a solid effort from Tony Snell with 18 points and five boards, but Snell didn’t get much help on the scoreboard. Lobo Kendall Williams had four points on 0-of-9 shooting and Phillip McDonald scored three points going 1-of-5 from the field. Demetrius Walker had eight points in 17 minutes.
“We had some guys who didn’t produce. That’s the easiest way to put it,” said Alford. “You have to be more productive than that.
“Tony continues to develop and grow. He’s doing a lot of good things for us. Last year, Kendall had other players in front of him as far as scouting reports went and now he’s the focal point.”
The Aggies didn’t have a lot of luck at the free-throw line most of the night (21-of-38 for 55.3 percent), but the Aggies hit five straight from the line in the final minute to pull out of a 55-53 lead and into the 62-53 final.
Both teams had several good opportunities down the stretch to change things on the scoreboard, but that really didn’t happen until the final minute. The Lobos got a steal from Hardeman with the score 55-53, but McDonald missed a trey.
Snell fouled NMSU’s Hernst Laroche with 54 seconds to play and the Aggie started NMSU’s string of five by knocking down two and pushing the Aggies up 57-53.
The Lobos then threw up two misses from 3-point range, one by Williams and one by McDonald. Aggie Bandja Sly then drove at the back end of an Aggie fast break and was fouled as he scooped the ball into the net. He converted the 3-point play at the line and NMSU was up 60-53.
That pretty much ended it, but UNM failed to convert at their end and the Aggies formed the 62-53 final with two free throws from Christian Kabongo.
“I thought our guys battled and made things hard on them,” said Alford. “Neither team got very good looks. We got in in foul trouble with our bigs and that hurt. Good teams are going to go at Drew. The progress of his play has to be at the defensive end.”
The Aggies’ defensive pressure definitely hurt the Lobos inside and outside which effected UNM’s ability to run its offense. There were more than a few Lobos, who forced up bad shots in pressure.
“When you play teams like this, you have to have a point guard who can do things and get you into an offense,” said Alford. “They (NMSU) are going to be hard to beat, if they keep playing like they did tonight. They really took a lot of things from us.”
The Lobos carried a 31-26 lead into the halftime break. NMSU got up 17-12, but the Lobos went up 18-17 on a 3-pointer by Jamal Fenton. UNM ran to a 27-18 lead before NMSU cut it to a 5-point hole at the break. The Aggies shot 28 percent in the first half and shot 60 percent in the second half.
The Lobos had only Snell in double figures. NMSU got 14 points from Wendell McKines, 12 from Bandja Sy and 10 from Hamidu Rahman. The teams were even on the boards with 38 each. UNM had 21 turnovers and NMSU had 18 turnovers.
The Lobos were whistled for 28 fouls and the Aggies were slapped with 24 fouls – a total of 52. Kabongo had six assists and seven turnovers for NMSU and Williams had six assists and five turnovers for the Lobos. McKines led all rebounders with nine and Gordon had eight for UNM.
UNM shot 19 percent in the second half when the Aggies turned up their defensive pressure. UNM did not score in the final 7:05 of the game.
The Lobos get a shot at revenge Dec. 28 in Las Cruces.