Jan. 21, 2012
New Mexico Lobos Men’s Basketball – On The Mountain West Road
Saturday: UNLV Rebels 80, New Mexico Lobos 63
Wednesday: Colorado State at New Mexico — The Pit
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
In Las Vegas, the odds always lean to the house, but so far in 2011-12, there are no better odds on the strip than the UNLV Rebels playing basketball on their home turf.
The UNLV Runnin’ Rebels ran past the New Mexico Lobos 80-63 Saturday night in the Thomas & Mack Center to stay perfect in Vegas at 14-0 and perfect in the Mack at 12-0.
The Rebs gunned at a 51.7 percent clip to shoot down the Lobos, who shot 38.6 percent. Obviously, Vegas shot well, but the Rebs also used 11 steals to help them score 32 points off 21 UNM turnovers.
The Lobos trailed by only four points at the half, but the continuous pressure by the Rebels seemed to wear down the Lobos. Vegas outscored UNM 41-28 in the second half. Amazingly, the Mack stat crew had 26 fast-break points for UNLV and zip for the Lobos.
“I don’t know if I believe those stats,” said Lobo Coach Steve Alford. “I’ll have to watch the tape. I have a hard time believing it was 26-0. That was a difference (in the game, I’m just not sure those are the stats.
“But they are very talented and very deep. I thought our guys played really hard. We just turned the ball over too much. There won’t be a lot of teams that come in here and win and we know that. They got up into us (defensively) and we didn’t have an answer.”
UNLV’s attack also was buoyed by its bench which produced 28 points to nine from the UNM bench. The loss drops the Lobos to 15-4 overall and 1-2 in the Mountain West race. The Lobos will play host to Colorado State on Wednesday. The Rams lost to Wyoming on Saturday.
“The most important game of our season now is Wednesday night against Colorado State,” said Alford. “We have to break our losing streak. If we can get it to 5-2, we’re going to be fine, but it’s going to take a lot of work.”
The Lobos had four players in double figures: Tony Snell (15), Kendall Williams (15), Drew Gordon (14 plus 12 boards) and A.J. Hardeman (10.) “I thought A.J. was terrific,” said Alford.
The Lobo bench points came from Phillip McDonald (5) and Cameron Bairstow (4). Vegas had five players in double figures: Mike Moser (14), Carlos Lopez (14), Chace Stanback (13), Anthony Marshall (13) and Justin Hawkins (10). Moser added 10 boards.
“They took a lot of things away from us, but I like our kids’ effort,” said Alford. “The big thing now is to get two (wins) next week and right the ship before we go back on the road.”
Demetrius Walker defending Anthony Marshall |
Second Half: UNLV Rebels 41, New Mexico Lobos 28
The Rebs struck first in the second half when Marshall drove for a layup and was bumped by Hardeman. Marshall made the free throw: 42-35. Hardeman came back with a short jumper for his 10th point and UNM cut the gap to 42-37. Vegas then got a trey followed by a Snell trey: 45-40.
The Rebs then threw out a 6-0 run to go up 51-40 and Alford burned a timeout. At the 15:36 media break, a Williams’ free throw had the Lobos down 51-41. Vegas continued to drift ahead. A Marshall bucket off a steal made it 57-43. Another Marshall score made it 60-47 going into the 11:36 media break. The Rebs were up on fast-break points 21-0 at that mark.
At a 9:46 break, Vegas was up 64-49. McDonald hit a bomb on the baseline to pull UNM to 64-52. It seemed every time the Lobos appeared poised to scratch back on the scoreboard, the Rebs came up with a steal or a big bucket. That’s what the Rebs did at that point, jumping up 69-52 and 71-52 – 19 points with 7:30 to play.
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MW STANDINGS |
“When they increased their pressure, I thought we were standing a lot,” said Alford. “Offensively, we got stagnant and that affected our defense. I think we had a poor second half against San Diego State and a poor second half tonight.”
If the Lobos planned to make a huge run, it had to happen now. The Rebs helped the Lobos a bit by slowing down their attack and making some mistakes. UNM pulled to 74-58, but the clock was fading away. Stanback hit a long trey for UNLV to slide the Rebs up 77-58 with under two minutes to play.
Vegas strolled in for the 17-point win.
First Half: UNLV Rebels 39, New Mexico Lobos 35
The Lobos did a good job of not letting the scoreboard get away from them at the close of the half. The Rebels jumped up 39-31 using their quickness to produce buckets inside and out. UNM closed to the four-point gap.
UNLV was hot in the first half, especially in the second ten minutes. The Rebs shot 53.6 percent from the field and UNM shot 36.4. Both teams hit four 3-pointers in the half. UNLV got some easy buckets off steals and some too-easy layups in transition after UNM scores. However, the Lobos scored 12 points off turnovers to six for the Rebs.
The Lobos also had an edge on the boards, 21-16 with 13 offensive boards. UNLV’s bench came through big time with 19 points to two off UNM’s bench. UNM’s Williams was the only player on either team in double figures with 10 points.
The Rebs pushed eight players onto the scoring column with Carlos Lopez leading the way with nine points off the bench. Justin Hawkins also came off the pine to add eight points. UNM’s Gordon had six boards in the half.
The Lobos jumped up 4-0 and 9-6 and carried a 9-7 lead into the first media break. Williams hit two treys for UNM early. The Rebs weren’t shy about launching from 3-point range and were missing early.
At a 12:04 break called by Vegas, UNM was up 18-13 off a Hardeman duck-under move inside and another Williams’ trey. The Rebs continued to play fast and aggressive – but better. The Rebs tied the game at 21-all and then pulled away to a 39-31 lead. The Lobos did a good job cutting it to 39-35 at the half.