Stevens: Cold-Shooting Lobos Beat Grizzlies 62-50
New Mexico Lobos Men’s Basketball – In The Pit
Friday: New Mexico Lobos 62, Adams State Grizzlies 50
Up Next: Nov. 14 – Idaho State at New Mexico
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
Lobo Coach Craig Neal said he got exactly what he wanted from Adams State, but not exactly what he wanted from his Lobos in Friday night’s 62-50 exhibition win over the Grizzlies.
“I got exactly what I wanted to get – a highly competitive game,” said Neal. “But they outplayed us. They played harder than we did.
“I don’t think 13 of them (Lobos) came to play tonight. I think they thought they were going to walk in, and it would be like the last game (an exhibition romp over Western New Mexico). I don’t think we came ready to play
“And we have to make shots.”
It was not a good shooting night for the Lobos as they went 20-of-73 from the floor for a 27.4 percent mark. Adams State shot 31.7 percent and 25.8 percent from long range. UNM went 5-of-24 from 3-point range for a 20.8 percent night.
“Our guys didn’t handle adversity very well,” said Neal. “We didn’t run a lot of things and we didn’t prepare for them, but I was concerned over our shooting, our turnovers and our free-throw shooting.”
Said Lobo Devon Williams, who led UNM with 13 points and 12 rebounds: “We were struggling starting off the game. But we were still putting out a lot of effort. I feel we had a good effort on the boards.”
The boards were huge for UNM. The Lobos had a 65-40 edge. UNM also made 15 more free shots than Adams State, but UNM went 17-of-28 from the line (60.7 percent).
Coach Neal had a theory about UNM’s edge off the glass.
“When you shoot (badly) there are going to be a lot of rebounds against an undersized team,” he said. “I wanted (Adams State) to come after us. I wanted to see how our guys would react and now I’ve seen it.
“We have to find ourselves. I just don’t think we came ready to play.”
The attendance was listed at 13,171.
Williams was joined in double figures by Hugh Greenwood with 12 and Cullen Neal with ten points. UNM went 17-of-28 from the stripe and the Grizzles went 2-of-11. Adams State was whistled for 27 fouls and UNM had 18.
Adams State had 12 blocked shots and both teams had 18 turnovers. Neal had seven turnovers for UNM and Shakir Smith, who led Adams State in scoring with 21 points, had five turnovers and five steals. Smith was the only Grizzly in double figures.
Michael Middlebrooks had 16 boards for Adams State. Greenwood added 11 boards for UNM. Obij Aget had seven points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots for UNM. The Lobos had ten players reach the scoring column.
The Lobos pulled out of a 17-10 first-half hole and into a 36-27 halftime lead. At the 16:51 mark of the second half, a Lobo spurt highlighted by two dunks had Adams State asking for a timeout down 43-27.
The Grizzles finally got their first bucket of the second half at 16:33 to make it 43-30, but they were still in The Pit in a 13-point hole. Not a good place to be. Adams State was shooting 16.7 percent at that stop in the second half – 1-of-6 from the floor.
The Lobos stayed ahead by double digits, but did allow Adams State to pull to 55-45 before a Greenwood trey made it 58-45. The Lobos carried that lead into the final three minutes of play and hung on for the exhibition win. The Lobos open their regular season Nov. 14 in The Pit vs. Idaho State.
First Half: New Mexico 36, Adams State 27
The Lobos battled in a deficit most of the first half before claiming a 27-24 lead with 5:05 to go and holding Adams State to three points the rest of the way to the halftime break.
UNM was led in scoring in the first 20 minutes by Devon Williams and Obij Aget with seven points each. Adams State got 14 points from Shakir Smith. UNM had a major lead in the rebounding category 31-16. The Lobos had 13 offensive boards to one for the Grizzlies. UNM also had an 11-to-2 bulge in free throws made outshooting Adams State 18-to-6 at the line.
The Grizzlies had seven blocked shots and shot 38.5 percent from the floor to 29.7 percent for UNM.
It wasn’t a great start for the Lobos, but maybe one of those stuttering starts that end up helping a young team grow. The Grizzlies knocked in a few treys. The Grizzlies jumped up 13-6 and carried a 13-8 lead into the first media break at 15:32. Adams State went up 17-10, but at the 11:15 stop, UNM had clawed to 20-18. Aget lead UNM in scoring at that point with five points.
The visitors from up north continued to hang tough in The Pit. At the 7:55 media stop, Adams State was still up, 23-21. Shakir Smith had 12 points for Adams State at that mark going 4-of-4 from 3-point range. UNM was shooting 28 percent from the floor and the Grizzlies were at 47.4 percent. UNM was up 19-10 on the boards at that point.
The Lobos finally took control of the scoreboard at the 5:05 mark. Aget stuffed an attempted dunk on the defensive end that led to a transition drive by Devon Williams. He made the layup and the following free throw to push UNM up 27-24.
Editor’s Note: Richard Stevens is a former national award-winning Sports Columnist and Associate Sports Editor at The Albuquerque Tribune. You can reach him at rstevens50@comcast.net.