Stevens: Lobos Fall 63-46 to Swarming SDSU Aztecs

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

Tuesday:  San Diego State 63, New Mexico 46

Up Next:  4 p.m., Saturday – UNLV at New Mexico

By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com

It never became a Pit game and you have to credit the San Diego State Aztecs for not allowing that to happen. Steve Fisher’s Aztecs threw down the hammer early on both ends of the court and never backed down.

The Aztecs used a 19-2 first-half run to take both the New Mexico Lobos and WisePies Arena out of the game from the get-go in rolling out of Albuquerque with a convincing 63-46 Mountain West win. The road win keeps the Aztecs atop the MW standings at 11-3.

“I had a heart-to-heart with my guys after the game,” said Lobo Coach Craig Neal. “I’m not upset. We got beat by a really good team, but we have to get back to guarding. I think we have shown some growth, but the consistency on defense has to come back.”

It was the Lobos’ fifth consecutive loss and might have doomed the Lobos into needing four straight wins in the Mountain West Tournament in order to defend that crown and return to the NCAA playoffs. UNM fell to 14-12 and 6-8 in league play. The top six teams in the MW get a first-round bye and UNM is in seventh place — three losses out of sixth place. 

“Right now, we are in a stretch I’ve never experienced in college basketball,” Neal said of the five-game skid. “All I can do is keep working hard and keep trying to make my team better. We’re not going to quit battling. Tough people last; tough times don’t.”

The Lobos shot 30.9 percent from the floor with Hugh Greenwood scoring 12 points (5-of-13) and Sam Logwood adding 10 points. The Lobos got three points from Deshawn Delaney, who went 1-of-8 from the floor, but pulled down seven rebounds.  UNM’s Obij Aget added nine points and nine boards.

The Aztecs shot 47 percent in their attack of the rim that was accented by 7-of-15 shooting from 3-point range.  SDSU got 20 points from Ageel Quinn and 16 points from 6-foot-10 Malik Pope.  Quinn and Pope combined to go 14-of-25 from the floor. SDSU’s 6-11 Skylar Spencer added 11 rebounds. 

The Aztecs’ bench outscored UNM 27-to-12.  The Lobos outrebounded SDSU 36-33 going 19-to-12 on the offensive glass.  UNM went 9-of-15 from the free-throw line. 

“The bottom line is the shooting,” said Neal. “We had some open shots, but we rushed every thing and we got into a bad rhythm.   And they (SDSU) played very good defense.”

Neal said he told his Lobos that teams scout the earlier games and “they figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are and right now they know you can’t make jump shots. I was real honest with them. 

“I think we played extremely hard and I’m not trying to throw kids under the bus. I just want them to become men. I want them to know where we are.”

The Lobos were down 31-18 at the half, but they did what they needed to do to open the second half. They cut into San Diego State’s lead.  At the first break, UNM was down 33-24 – a modest gain, but still a gain.  However, the problem with hacking into an Aztec lead is the Aztecs do not give up points – or runs – easily.  And then you have to stop them at the other end.

The Lobos could not generate that much-needed one-two punch.

The Aztecs drifted ahead again.  Pope hit a set-shot trey (43-28) and the Aztecs got a too-easy layup in transition which pushed UNM into a 45-28 hole and Neal asked for another timeout at 11:52 – down 17 points.  The Aztecs’ O’Brien scored in transition – plus one – and SDSU had its biggest lead at 49-30. 

There was a whole lot of time left, but against the Aztecs’ swarming defense the Lobos needed a miracle finish to begin immediately.  At the 7:43 media stop, UNM was down 17 points (51-34) – shooting 30 percent from the floor.

A Quinn 3-pointer pushed SDSU into a 56-37 lead going into the final four minutes.  The Aztecs drifted into a convincing Pit win in front of 15,411.

“To the fans: ‘Stay with these guys because they work hard,'” said Neal. “We are struggling right now and the players and I need you more than ever.” 

First Half:  San Diego State 31, New Mexico 18

Not a good half for Lobos.  The Aztecs played better defense, attacked the rim with more aggression and more bodies, and hit some big treys (4-of-8).  That combination — and a 19-2 SDSU run — resulted in a 13-point halftime lead for the visitors from San Diego.

The Lobos didn’t reach double digits on the scoreboard until there was 5:52 to play.  The Lobos also had 18 points at the half in their 56-42 loss at SDSU.  However, UNM was down only four points at the break in Viejas Arena.  UNM was looking at a 13-point hole in The Pit.  The Lobos shot 23 percent in the first half going 6-of-26 from the floor.  The SDSU bench outscored the UNM bench 14-to-2.

The Lobos did not get any first-half points from Delaney, who went 0-of-5 from the field in the first 20 minutes.

“We just have to figure out some ways to score,” said Neal, who said his team needed to get some transition scores in the second half before the Aztecs’ half-court defense could get set.

The Lobos opened the half missing their first four shots before Aget got a tip to pull UNM to 3-2.  It was defense, defense as anticipated as the two teams carried that 3-2 score into the first media break at 15:43. The two teams were 2-of-15 from the floor – but defense wasn’t the only reason for the poor shooting.  There were some open looks that did not fall.

Greenwood had missed his first three shots and was clearly a target of SDSU’s defense.  The Aztecs opened up in a man defense and UNM had thrown up a zone trying to force the Aztecs into a perimeter attack.  The Aztecs got some solid dribble-drive penetration in the half and accented that with the 4-of-8 effort from long range.

Greenwood got his first open look from the edge and nailed it to form a 7-7 tie.  The Aztecs then went on a 9-0 run using four subs off the bench to fuel the rally.  Aget missed a dunk which led to an Aztec dunk – and a 16-7 lead – that convinced Neal into burning a timeout.

The Aztecs continued to pull away and muscled into a 26-9 lead.  The Lobos had some good success late attacking the rim and getting to the free-throw line.  The Lobos used a modest 4-0 run to cut the SDSU lead to 26-13.  The Aztecs then ran to a 31-13 lead before UNM ended the half with a 5-0 run.