Feb. 15, 2012
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New Mexico Lobos Men’s Basketball – On The Mountain West Road
Wednesday: New Mexico 77, San Diego State 67
Saturday: 11 a.m., UNLV vs. New Mexico – The Pit
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
The signature win that the New Mexico Lobos were looking for came in a clutch and huge way as the Lobos fought back several San Diego State rallies to post a convincing 77-67 win on the Aztecs home turf.
“I thought that every time San Diego State tried to make a run, we had an answer,” said Lobo Coach Steve Alford. “This isn’t an easy place to play and we are pretty much up by ten the whole night. This is a nationally-ranked team and an outstanding team. This was a pivotal game.”
The Lobos’ payback Wednesday night in San Diego looked a lot like what brought the Lobos hurt in The Pit when the Aztecs came to visit. Just like the Aztecs in Albuquerque, the Lobos didn’t crack in San Diego. The Lobos grabbed control. They kept control. They made clutch baskets, played fierce defense and now stand alone atop the Mountain West standings.
The Lobos, who six games ago were looking up at Aztecs and Rebels, are now looking down on Aztecs and Rebels.
“I think this team has been under appreciated,” said Alford of his Lobos. “I think we are playing our best basketball at the right time of the year. Our guys are playing their roles and playing as hard as they can.”
The Lobos ripped off a 50 percent shooting overall and went 10-of-19 from 3-point range where UNM outscored the Aztecs by 21 points. Another key to the game was the defense the Lobos threw on the Mountain’s leading scorer, Chase Tapley, who did not score a point until there was 4:40 to play. Tapley went 3-of-11 from the field and finished with seven points.
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The Lobos countered with 21 points from Kendall Williams and 17 points and 17 boards from Drew Gordon, who played like a man among boys most of the night. UNM also got 15 points and three assists from Jamal Fenton.
“I think Drew has very special ability,” said Alford. “He just has to be focused and concentrating. Drew and Kendall were very, very special tonight. They had no answer for Kendall. We had that inside-out presence.”
The win pushes UNM to 21-4 on the year and hands them a one-game lead over SDSU and UNLV heading into Saturday’s clash with UNLV.
That Pit game goes down as a must-win for UNLV – and really the rest of the conference, which will be looking at UNLV to slow down the red hot Lobos.
“It makes for a very exciting game Saturday morning on CBS,” said Alford. “It will be hard to find a seat in that place (Pit). This was a physical war and Saturday morning will be more of the same.”
The game at The Pit sold out on Monday afternoon.
Second Half: New Mexico 41, San Diego State 35
The Aztecs came out and used Franklin’s athleticism to quickly change the 36-32 halftime gap into a 38-all tie. Then the Lobos went long again. Chad Adams banged in a trey followed by two long 3-pointers by Williams and UNM was up 47-38 – nine points.
Adams drove the baseline and kissed a short jumper off the glass and UNM was up 49-38. Viejas Arena was quiet and not happy. Gordon got fouled underneath and UNM was sitting on a fat 51-38 lead. The Lobos were riding a 13-0 run. At a time out at the 13:51 mark, the Lobos were up by 15 points: 54-39.
The Aztecs got on a run to cut UNM’s lead to 54-45 (9). At the 9:42 break, UNM buckets by three bench players — Cameron Bairstow, Demetrius Walkerand Fenton – helped UNM to a 60-49 lead. “Our bench is talented. We trust our bench,” said Alford. “Our depth was good again.”
The Lobo bench eventually outscored SDSU 33-11.
The Aztecs had energized their game at both ends of the court, but the Lobos were still making shots and still defending well. At the 7:14 break, UNM was up 62-51. Tapley had still not reached the scoreboard for the Aztecs.
Then Tapley woke up. He scored his first bucket at the 4:40 mark, added a trey, and with 2:25 to play, drove and looped in a reverse layup to pull the Aztecs to 70-64. Alford called a time, still up by six.
The Lobos were playing solid defense, but maybe the biggest defensive play down the stretch was the result of good fortune. UNM came out of the huddle and turned the ball over on a Walker charge.
SDSU looked to bring its gap down to four points when Tim Shelton slipped past Gordon and drove in for an uncontested layup. He missed.
Gordon came down and hit a clutch 18-footer and UNM was up 72-64. Shelton missed inside again, this time while pressured by Gordon. Fenton pushed UNM up 74-64 at the line and UNM cruised in for the win. “Jamal was terrific all night,” said Alford.
First Half: New Mexico 36, San Diego State 32
It was a good half for the Lobos and almost a great half. The Lobos jumped up 27-17 on a Chad Adams trey, but the Aztecs cut that gap to four points at the break.
UNM shot 42.4 percent in the half with Williams scoring 13 points and Gordon adding eight points and 11 rebounds. SDSU got 11 points from Tim Shelton. UNM was up on the boards 18-14 and had 11 second-chance points to five for the host team. Tapley did not score in the first 20 minutes and Franklin had only four points.
The long shot was a key. UNM got 18 points from behind the line on 6-of-12 shooting and SDSU was 1-of-4.
The Aztecs jumped up 7-3 before the Lobos used treys from Fenton and Williams help form a 13-9 UNM lead. Gordon then hit a jumper and followed that with a monster alley-oop dunk off a pass from Walker. The Lobos were up 17-11. Gordon got an offensive rebound on UNM’s next possession which led to a short Fenton jumper on the baseline: 19-11.
The Aztecs’ crowd went nuts at the 10:25 mark when SDSU’s Franklin was whistled for a technical after trying to save a ball from going out of bounds by tossing it back at the pressuring Phillip McDonald. Franklin had stepped on the line prior to his throw back which went directly into McDonald’s face.
McDonald missed both of the technical freebies, but UNM kept possession and a trey by Demetrius Walker pushed the Lobos up 22-13. The Aztecs cut that lead to 24-17, but a 3-pointer by Chad Adams raised the Lobos to a 27-17 count.
The Aztecs then threw out a 6-0 run that cut UNM’s 10-point lead to 27-23 at the 5:33 mark. Xavier Thames split the UNM defense and kicked off to Garrett Green for a reverse layup to pull SDSU into that four-point hole. At the 3:50 media break, UNM was guarding a 29-25 lead.
The Lobos were shooting 42.3 percent from the floor at that point and SDSU was shooting at a 50 percent clip. UNM’s edge came from long range where the Lobos went 5-of-10 and SDSU was 1-of-4.
The Lobos used a long, fading trey from Williams to push the Lobos up 34-29 and then the Lobo sophomore roped in a follow to hand UNM a 36-29 bulge. SDSU used the free-throw line to cut UNM’s lead to 36-32.