ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team (7-3) dropped a home game for the first time this season, falling to the Rice Owls (5-4), 90-89, in WisePies Arena Saturday.
The Lobos were led by Elijah Brown’s fourth consecutive 20-point game, with 21 points on 5-for-13 shooting. He also tallied five rebounds and two assists. Tim Williams scored 18 points on 9-for-12 shooting and pulled down a team-best nine rebounds. Cullen Neal was the team’s leading distributor, with seven assists to go with 16 points. Obij Aget was the team’s fourth double-digit scorer, with 11 points, seven rebounds and a career-high five blocks.
“Give them credit, Rice played a heck of a game,” said head coach Craig Neal. “They scored the ball, we had no answer for them. I thought our defense was not very good but this game’s on me, it had nothing to do with our players. I didn’t get them up to play and they just played with more energy and more effort.”
The Lobos faced a tough test in the first half but eventually gained control of the game before the break. The Owls took advantage of a rough offensive stretch for New Mexico and worked their way quickly to a 12-point lead just seven minutes into the game.
New Mexico did not led the game get out of hand, and a 10-2 run put the Lobos on the Owls’ heals. Timely 3-pointers helped Rice maintain the lead for nearly 13 minutes of the first half. However, the Lobos outscored Rice, 17-2, over the final five minutes of the first half to take a 44-38 lead into the break.
The Lobos looked to take control of the game in the second half, earning their first double digit lead within the first two minutes. With roughly 13 minutes remaining, Neal was fouled on a driving layup and earned three points the hard way, giving the Lobos their largest lead of the game at 66-49.
The big lead was short lived, as the Owls immediately answered with an 11-3 run to cut their deficit to single digits. Over the final seven minutes of the game, the Owls shot 11-for-17 and tied the game at 89-89 with 21 seconds remaining on a 3-pointer from Egor Koulechov.
The Lobos turned the ball over on the ensuing possession, but came up with the stop they needed on the other end to keep the game tied. However, with 0.1 second on the clock, the ref awarded Rice a technical free throw opportunity due to a Lobo calling a timeout the team did not have. Koulechov stepped up and scored his 32nd point of the game at the free throw line to win it for Rice.
Overall, the Lobos shot 50.8 percent (30-for-59) and 36.8 percent (7-for-19) from 3-point range. Rice shot 45.3 percent (29-for-64) and 40.7 percent (11-for-27) from deep. The Lobos won the rebounding battle, 40-31, but gave up more turnovers than Rice, 18-13.
Jordan Hunter and Joe Furstinger each scored five points off the bench, shooting 50 percent each. Furstinger also led the reserves with five rebounds, tying a season-high. Sam Logwood logged four points, three rebounds and two steals, and helped force a tough shot from Koulechov on the final stop of the game. Nikola Scekic chipped in four points while Xavier Adams earned three points, rebounds and assists.
The loss snapped a streak of six consecutive wins at home for the Lobos, the longest unbeaten record to start a year at home since the 2012-13 season.
The Lobos will move on to the 2015 Hawaiian Airlines Diamondhead Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii, beginning Tuesday with Auburn at 12:30 p.m. MT.
(12/19/2015) MBB v. Rice
Lobos Drop First Home Game Against Rice
