Stevens: Neal's Lobos Downed 53-49 at Air Force
New Mexico Lobos Men’s Basketball – On The Mountain West Road
Wednesday: Air Force 53, New Mexico 49
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
In a way, half the scoreboard was pretty much what Lobo Coach Craig Neal was looking for when he brought his Lobos to Colorado Springs to play the Air Force Falcons.
The Lobos held Air Force to 53 points – on the Falcons’ home floor. That’s pretty good.
However, the 49 points the Lobos scored was not wanted and not expected in UNM’s 53-49 Mountain West loss Wednesday night in Clune Arena.
“We have to get out of this final four-minute funk,” said Neal. “We became passive.”
On this night, the funk actually was a bit longer. The Lobos did not score in the final six minutes and 40 seconds of the game.
The problem for the Lobos was obvious. Senior Hugh Greenwood, who scored 15 points, hit a 3-pointer with 6:40 to play and the Lobos never scored again. Greenwood’s bucket pushed the Lobos up by five points – 49-44 and that’s not a bad situation to be in at Air Force.
The Lobos typically will lock down on defense in the final run to the gun. The Lobos typically will make some plays, make some drives, get some second-shot opportunities and get to the free-throw line.
But that didn’t happen on this night in Clune Arena. It was the Falcons making those kinds of plays – the plays that win games.
“You can’t have mental breakdowns,” said Neal. “We make two or three stops, but they get second chances and they bang down threes.”
Air Force’s Marek Olesinski used the free-throw line at the 5:15 mark to pull the Falcons to 49-46. UNM’s Deshawn Delaney missed a jumper with 5:02 to go. Air Force’s Max Yon missed a trey, but UNM turned the ball over at the 4:04 mark.
A jumper by Olesinski made it 49-48. UNM’s Arthur Edwards missed the front end of a one-and-one at the 3:22 mark and again Olesinski stung the Lobos with a basket. This time a 3-pointer that finally pushed the Falcons into a 51-49 lead that they would never give back.
And that came with 3:00 to play – still plenty of time.
The Lobos not only did not come up with any clutch baskets but they turned the ball over at the 2:41 mark and again with 1:34 to play. Air Force missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:01 to go, but UNM’s Devon Williams missed on a 3-pointer that would have reclaimed the lead.
The Falcons finally got that all-important four-point lead with 36 seconds to play when Trevor Lyons banged down two free throws. That formed the 53-49 final. UNM got off a jumper and two more 3-pointers in the final 20 seconds, but nothing fell in.
“You can’t have empty possessions,” said Neal. “And we made some bad defensive plays. We tried to get the ball inside, but we didn’t make any catches or any plays.”
Greenwood had a nice stat line for the Lobos with 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists. He went 5-of-9 from 3-point range, but never reached the free-throw line. Delaney reached double digits with 14 points and he added five boards and three assists. Delaney was 6-of-8 from the field and he also did not reach the free-throw line. Arthur Edwards had eight boards, but no points.
Before the game, Coach Neal emphasized the importance of his Lobos getting to the line. UNM went 6-of-12 from that stripe. The Falcons weren’t much better going 8-of-14.
The Lobos went 9-of-23 from 3-point range, but Neal was not happy with his team once again thinking it is “a 3-point shooting team.” Air Force went 7-of-26 from long range. UNM won the board battle 33-to-28.
A huge key on Wednesday was in ball handling. UNM had 15 turnovers – several key ones late in the game. Air Force had eight turnovers.
UNM shot 40.5 percent from the floor and Air Force shot 40.4 percent. Air Force shot 47 times and UNM shot 42 times. The turnover difference contributed to the Falcons getting off a few more shots – and making two more field goals than the Lobos.
Olesinski was the only Falcon in double digits with 18 points going 6-of-10 from the floor.
The Falcons got 18 minutes out of their leading scorer, Max Yon, who returned to the roster for UNM’s visit, but Yon was not a huge factor on the scoreboard. He scored five points going 2-of-7 from the field and 1-of-6 from long range.
The loss drops UNM to 14-8 on the year and 6-4 in Mountain West play. Air Force jumps to 10-12 and 3-8 in league.