Stevens: Lobos Drop Sixth Straight 76-68 to UNLV
New Mexico Lobos Men’s Basketball – In WisePies Arena/The Pit
Saturday: UNLV 76, New Mexico 68
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
The New Mexico Lobos got a career-high 14 points from Obij Aget, but the performance of their 7-foot-1 center was not enough to overcome a four-pronged UNLV Rebels’ attack that matched UNM’s 68-point output in a 76-68 UNLV win.
The Rebels got 22 points from Patrick McCaw, 17 from Christian Wood, 17 from Jelan Kendrick and 12 from Goodluck Okonoboh. The rest of the UNLV team could only score eight points.
Aget also had eight rebounds for the Lobos.
“I think he is playing extremely hard,” Lobo Coach Craig Neal said of his big man. “He is doing what he can do and not trying to do what he can’t do. You throw the ball in there and good things happen.”
There really wasn’t much else that went well for the Lobos in this Mountain West loss. It was hurtful. The loss extended UNM’s losing streak to six games. You have to go back to the 1970-71 season to find the last six-game Lobo losing skid. The win was only the second Mountain West road win for the Rebels this season.
The 76 points were the most allowed by the UNM defense this season.
“It’s very upsetting to lose another home game,” said Neal. “That’s not supposed to happen here and I’m not happy about it. I feel really bad for my seniors and I feel really bad for the fans.”
The loss probably dooms the Lobos into opening the 2015 Mountain West Tournament on a Wednesday and needing a four-game win streak in Las Vegas in order to defend their MW tourney title and return to the NCAA postseason.
UNM is 14-13 on the year and 6-9 in league play.
“There is not a push back,” Neal said of his Lobos. “We made a good run, but when we needed to have some resistance and get some push-back, it just wasn’t there. Instead of playing with more energy, we went the other way.
“I see some doubt in their eyes. They have to start believing they can win. We just didn’t get a lot of good play and we didn’t get much from our bench.”
The Lobos got 13 points from Hugh Greenwood and 11 points from Devon Williams. Tim Jacobs had five assists and seven boards. UNM went 21-of-29 from the free-throw line. UNM shot 42.3 percent from the field. UNLV shot 54 percent from the floor and 59 percent (10-of-17) from 3-point range. UNLV was 12-of-15 from the line.
The Rebels beat UNM 18-to-4 on fast-break points.
“I have a pretty numb feeling at the moment,” said Greenwood. “We should never lose at home. We are a team that prides itself on success and we haven’t done it in the past few games. We have no excuses for losing.”
There was a key stretch in the second half that allowed the Rebels to grab control of the scoreboard. UNM’s Deshawn Delaney got his shot blocked which led to an open UNLV 3-pointer. Vegas then got a steal that led to a finger-tip roll by McCaw and a 65-56 Vegas lead.
UNM called time. UNM came out of its huddle and Hugh Greenwood threw up a tough trey rolling off a screen. He missed and UNLV converted the rebound into a transition dunk: 67-56 with 4:31 to go. UNLV went from a four-point lead into an 11-point lead.
Vegas pretty much controlled the game the rest of the way in.
“It takes some energy,” Neal said of fighting out of deficits. “I just told them (Lobos after game) that they have to figure out how to get over the hump. I think they have been taught to play the right way.
“They (Lobos) sometimes shoot themselves in the foot. They pass up a lot of open shots. Our starters aren’t giving us good starts and there probably needs to be some changes, but I don’t know where you go for those changes.”
The UNLV Rebels took control of the scoreboard early in the first half. UNLV got some nice looks out of transition, hit some treys and a layup, and Neal called timeout down 11-4. Vegas carried a 13-7 lead into the first media timeout.
Vegas expanded their lead to 23-9 at the 13:11 mark. Vegas also was up 25-11 before the Lobos controlled the rest of the half and only were down 39-34 at the break thanks to a buzzer-beating trey by Vegas.
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