Stevens: Delaney, Goodman Pace UNM's 69-58 Win
New Mexico Lobos Men’s Basketball at ESPN Puerto Rico Tip-Off
Friday: New Mexico 69, George Mason 58
Sunday: Noon — New Mexico vs. Texas A&M
On The Air: ESPNU; 770-AM KKOB/Lobo Radio Network
GoLobos.com: Game Story, Complete Stats
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
It probably was exactly what the Lobos needed – to find a scoring punch from Lobos not named Hugh Greenwood or Cullen Neal.
The Lobos got that Friday night in Puerto Rico as 6-foot-9 Jordan Goodman and 6-foot-5 DeshawnDelaney combined for 35 points in New Mexico’s 69-58 win over George Mason on day two of the ESPN Puerto Rico Tip-Off Tournament.
Goodman had a career-high 19 points and Delaney added 16 points. Greenwood added 13 points, but went 3-of-14 from the field and 1-of-7 from 3-point range. Greenwood used the free-throw line to go 6-of-10 to help pad his stat line late in the game.
“I hope people were watching (on ESPN3) and listening now (on 770-AM). It was good,” said Lobo coach Craig Neal. “They (Lobos) persevered. We did some good things. We’re learning. We are going to have bumps in the road, but today was a good victory for us,”
It wasn’t exactly an easy win for the Lobos, but it also wasn’t a win that George Mason ever threatened to steal away. The Lobos went up by 12 points in the first half and 12 points in the second half and kept George Mason tucked in the Lobos’ rearview mirror the entire second half.
The margin of the victory wasn’t huge, but when you factor in that Cullen Neal was sitting on the bench in street clothes nursing a damaged ankle and Greenwood struggled with his shooting touch — well, it was a telling win.
Goodman and Delaney obviously stepped up in the scoring department, but this also was a scrappy effort by Lobos on defense. The Patriots shot 33 percent from the floor and 13 percent from 3-point range. UNM shot 46 percent.
Neal said the emphasis prior to the game was to force the Patriots “to make the extra pass.” He said his Lobos were “in tune to what was going on and they played aggressively.”
The Lobos advance in the tournament to play Texas A&M on Sunday with a noon (MT) tip.
“We need to take advantage of games like this,” said Neal. “It’s hard to get teams to come and play us at our place and this is why we play in (tournaments) like this. It is going to be a good opportunity for us.”
The Lobos were chilly from 3-point range going 5-of-17, but Goodman went 3-of-4 and added five rebounds. He went 7-of-10 from the field. “We’ve always known he’s been a super talent,” said Neal of Goodman.
Delaney went 7-of-11 from the floor. He added eight boards. “That’s what we have been telling Deshawn all long,” said Neal of Delaney’s offensive aggression. “We told him he can’t pass up wide-open shots. If he misses them, so be it. We can’t pass up opportunities.”
The Lobos went into the half with a 10-point lead at 30-20. George Mason scored the first four points of the second half which convinced Coach Neal to burn a quick timeout.
UNM came out of its huddle and Greenwood, who had 24 points the day before, got his first points of the game. George Mason cut the gap to 32-27 before Greenwood got his first 3-pointer of the game to extend UNM’s lead to 35-27.
The Lobos used five points and an assist from Goodman to carry a 43-34 lead into the media break near the 12:00 mark. Another Goodman trey handed UNM a 50-38 lead. At the 9:33 break, UNM was up 50-41 with Tim Jacobs coming out of the huddle shooting free throws. Jacobs did his job at the line and UNM went up 52-41.
George Mason had a little run to cut the Lobos’ lead to 52-45 and Neal asked for time with 6:21 to play.
UNM’s Sam Logwood drove, scored and added a free throw: 55-45, the Lobos were back up by 10 points. Goodman then duplicated Logwood’s drive and the free throw at 4:44: 58-46. George Mason, having trouble all night scoring in runs vs. the UNM defense, was running out of time – and needing a run.
George Mason never produced a run and UNM got the 69-58 final. A key stretch in the game came in the first half when the Patriots went more than eight minutes without a score going 0-of-11 from the field. UNM took control of the scoreboard during that stretch and never lost control.
Editor’s Note: Richard Stevens is a former award-winning Sports Columnist and Associate Sports Editor at The Albuquerque Tribune. You can reach him at rstevens50@comcast.net.