Stevens: Lobos Debut WisePies Arena 62-47 vs. NMSU

New Mexico Lobos Men’s Basketball – WisePies Arena – The Pit

Wednesday:  New Mexico Lobos 62, New Mexico State 47

By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com

You could say the debut of WisePies Arena had some extra topping Wednesday night – the New Mexico State Aggies went down.

Craig Neal’s New Mexico Lobos rallied from a 23-10 deficit near the 10 minute mark of the first half and allowed the Aggies only 24 points the rest of the way in an impressive 62-47 UNM win.

“They just played,” Neal said of his Lobos. “That was just will.”

And what’s this nonsense about Tim Jacobs being a walk-on.  The JC transfer was as steady as rock scoring nine points, dishing out four assists and coming up with four steals – against a single turnover to the Aggies’ in-your-face defense.

“I can’t say enough about him,” Coach Neal said of Jacobs.  “He’s not a walk-on.  He was recruited to play here. He is what New Mexico is all about.

“He did exactly what I knew he could do.  I’m not afraid to play him.  He’s very capable and he’s done one a heck of a job for us. I went into this year knowing I was going to play him.”

Another Lobo did exactly what Neal knows he can do – attack the rim and score.  Deshawn Delaney had 22 points going 8-of-14 from the floor while leading UNM in rebounds with seven.  The Lobos also got double-digit scoring from Devon Williams with 13 points. 

Hugh Greenwood had a solid floor game and added a solid stat line of eight points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals in 38 minutes.   The Aggies got 10 points from Daniel Mullings and 13 from Remi Barry.

A pivotal point in the game came at that 23-10 score when Neal decided to abandon the man-to-man defense and throw a 2-3 zone at the Aggies the rest of the way.

“It made them make tough shots,” said Neal of the zone.  “They shot 19 treys and made five. We tried to take away their dribble drive, their transition and their offensive rebounds. We were going to make them make jump shots to beat us.  Our guys understood the game plan.”

The Aggies also made a lot of mistakes in attacking the zone and ended up with 20 turnovers to 13 for the Lobos.  UNM had 14 assists to six for NMSU. The Aggies shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half and 23.1 percent in the second half.

“I thought our defense was really, really good,” said Neal. “I’m really proud of how they all played.  I think you can see the effort. Those rivalry games are tough.  I knew my guys would come out and play, but let’s not get out of hand – we have a long way to go.” 

The Lobos ended the first half on a 24-5 run that allowed them to take a grip on the scoreboard that they never relinquished.  The Lobos quickly went up 40-30 at the 15:34 mark of the second half.  Jacobs made it 52-48 on a driving layup past pressure – softly dropping the ball in over the front of the rim.  The win was probably sealed at 3:24 when Greenwood hit his second trey of the game to push his Lobos into a fat 57-44 lead.

UNM used the free-throw line to form the final 15-point gap.

“If they (Lobos) keep working like that and keep believing in each other, they are going to get a lot better,” said Neal. “It was a good win for our team.”

Neal said one of his messages to Delaney was to “take it to the rim.”

Delaney said he embraced the advice, but “I got tired of losing.  That was one of the main things.”

Jacobs played his high school ball at Onate High in Las Cruces.  “It was fun to play against my hometown school,” he said. “It was fun to play well and get the win against them.”

He said he takes no offense in being called a Lobo walk-on (non-scholarship player).  “That’s what I am,” he said. “I am a walk-on.”

First Half:  New Mexico 34, New Mexico State 28

It turned out to be a good half for the Lobos.  It didn’t start off that way.  UNM fell into a deep 23-10 hole before a Tim Jacobs/Deshawn Delaney-led rally allowed the Lobos to run off the Bob King Floor with a six-point lead.  The Aggies scored five points in the final 9:58 of the half.

Jacobs cracked the Aggies’ defense just before the final buzzer to finger roll in a layup to form the 34-28 half time count.  Jacobs came up with a big steal and a couple of key assists during UNM’s run.  Deshawn Delaney did most of the offensive damage to the NMSU defense with 14 first-half points.

UNM shot 53.8 percent in the first half and NMSU shot 50 percent.  The Aggies won the board battle 15-to-7 and UNM won the turnover battle 5-to-12.  UNM got five points apiece from Greenwood and Joe Furstinger.  The Aggies got eight points from Daniel Mullings and eight more from Remi Barry.

The Lobos outscored NMSU 18-to-5 off turnovers.

The Aggies jumped on the Lobos early running to a 14-4 lead with 13:42 to play.  UNM was down 10 points again at 16-6.  The UNM offense was struggling against a long, lean Aggie defense.  At the 11:32 media break, the Lobos had scratched into a 16-10 deficit. The Aggies were up 9-3 on the boards at that point with four on the offensive end.

The Aggies then went on a short scoreboard burst to grab a 23-10 lead.  Neal called timeout at 9:58, down 13 points.  It was then the Lobos’ turn to kick out a good stretch.  UNM used a 3-pointer by Joe Furstinger to end a 7-0 run that pulled the Lobos to 23-17 with 7:25 to go in the half. UNM was shooting 50 percent from the floor at that mark, but NMSU was gunning at a 57.1 percentage.

The Aggies had eight turnovers many caused by Aggies attempting to penetrate the UNM 203 zone and making bad passes out of that penetration.

A Greenwood steal and layup pulled UNM to 26-23 at the 5:29 mark and NMSU’s Marvin Menzies was up and asking for a timeout.  The Pit had gotten all rowdy.  NMSU came up empty on their end and Greenwood found Tim Jacobs under the basket for a layup: 26-25.  Delaney tied the game at 26-all at 4:15.  It was a new game.

The Lobos were now the team playing with confidence and NMSU was shaky.  UNM was on a 15-3 run. The Aggies had 10 turnovers and UNM had outscored NMSU 15-to-5 on turnovers.

The Lobos finally grabbed a 29-26 lead at 1:49 on a Greenwood trey.  UNM got the possession off a Jacobs’ steal and the walk-on set up the trey with penetration and a kick-out pass to Greenwood.  Jacobs finished UNM’s scoring in the half with his driving layup.