Stevens: Delaney Paces Lobo Win over Valparaiso
New Mexico Lobos Men’s Basketball — On The Road
New Mexico Lobos 63, Valparaiso 46
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
It was a lot of defense, a lot of rebounding and a lot of Deshawn Delaney.
Lobo Coach Craig Neal has asked his senior to be more aggressive on the court to make up for the loss of Cullen Neal’s scoring, and Delaney continues to produce.
The Valparaiso Crusaders had no answer for Delaney and really no answer for the New Mexico Lobos (5-3) as UNM powered to a 63-46 non-conference road win. Delaney was outstanding scoring 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field.
Coach Neal said he told Delaney: “There is nobody who can guard you on the drive. Let’s get to the rim. Let’s get to the line.”
A lot of Lobos got to the rim. UNM dominated the paint outscoring Valparaiso 36-to-18 inside. UNM won the glass battle 38-to-28. The Lobos also blistered the nets at a 52 percent rate and held Valparaiso to 30 percent shooting.
“The biggest thing was we didn’t jack up threes like we were earlier in the year,” said Neal. “We have to take care of our strengths and our strength is getting it to the rim. And anytime you can shoot more than 20 free throws, that’s good.”
UNM went 14-of-22 from the line to 11-of-16 for the home team. Valparaiso was 3-of-22 from 3-point range. UNM was 3-of-9.
The Lobos also put the stops on Valparaiso’s main gun – 6-9 Alec Peters – who scored nine points on 4-of-14 shooting – 1-of-8 from 3-point range. The Crusaders had no players in double figures. That’s the first time since 1997 that no opposing player has reached double digits on the Lobos.
Coach Neal said he stayed up late watching an old game vs. Valparaiso anticipating similar plays on Saturday.
“Coaches are a creature of habit,” said Neal. “They ran a lot of the same things that they did back then. I was able to take some things from that, by watching the old tape, and it helped us.”
Neal said it also might have helped his Lobos that Valparaiso decided to use a man-to-man defense. That allowed the quick Lobos – especially Delaney – to attack his defender in a one-and-one situation.
“That kind of helped us. I was shocked,” Neal said of Valparaiso leaning to man pressure. “I was really worried they would come out and play a zone the whole game. They were really confident about their man-to-man defense.”
Delaney was joined in double figures by Hugh Greenwood with 10 points, Obij Aget with 10 and Devon Williams with 10. Aget and Williams combined to go 8-of-11 from the floor. The Lobos had three players pull down six boards: Delaney, Williams and Sam Logwood. Greenwood and Tim Jacobs each pulled down five boards.
A big key in the second half was often holding Valparaiso to one-and-done chances on their offensive end of the court.
It was an impressive road win for New Mexico and maybe even more impressive when you consider Greenwood went 3-of-11 from the field. The rest of Neal’s pack continues to pick up the slack. The Lobos took control of the scoreboard with a 30-20 halftime lead and the Crusaders could never slice into that gap enough to make a charge at the Lobos.
The Lobos simply drifted away by doing a lot of little things and doing them better than the Crusaders. UNM was up 40-29 with 13:08 to play and 45-33 with 11:02 to play.
The Lobos continued to keep a safe distance between them and the Crusaders. Valparaiso cut their hole to 49-40, but the Lobos again pulled away. A big shift came after Peters missed a layup inside and Greenwood came down and banged in a long trey. UNM was up 54-41 with 7:24 to play.
Valparaiso simply could not climb out of its hole. UNM got another big hoop at 5:27 when Delaney got an offensive board off a Greenwood trey, touched a shot in off the glass, and added a free throw. UNM was up 57-42 – 15 points, the largest UNM lead of the game up to that point.
The Lobos’ chore down the stretch was simple enough: don’t let the Crusaders get any late runs.
“I think our guys are learning as they go,” said Neal. “You like to see them grow which they did from the last game. I thought we were better tonight.”
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.