COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team (16-11, 9-5 MW) dropped the first game of its Colorado road trip Saturday to the Air Force Falcons (14-14, 5-10 MW), 76-72.
Elijah Brown led the Lobos in scoring Tuesday with 32 points on 10-for-20 shooting. He also had four rebounds and a pair of steals. Tim Williams registered a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds. He shot 6-for-10 from the floor. Cullen Neal was the team’s third scorer in double digits, with 12 points and a career-high tying six rebounds. Sam Logwood had a team-best four assists with five points and four rebounds.
“I thought we played well until the 11 minute mark when it was 53-44, we had a nice flow going,” said head coach Craig Neal. “What happens to us is that we don’t get mentally tough enough to guard. I think that we show signs of getting there and show signs of not getting there. When they do what we ask them to do and are disciplined, they are really, really good. But it’s all effected on if we make shots and if we are flowing offensively. We’ve got to play some mentally tough games where we can just guard.”
The Lobos had a rough start shooting in the first half and relied on their 3-point shot over the first nine minutes of the game. Air Force began the game on a 10-3 run, equaling largest lead of the game early. The Lobos cut the lead to one on a pair of treys, and took their first lead at the 9:42 mark at 17-16. The Lobos never led the first half by more than a field goal, but gutted out an advantage at halftime, 31-29.
Air Force started the second half hot and built a five point lead in the opening four minutes. Down 39-34, the Lobos began to draw fouls at a high rate and entered the bonus within the first seven minutes. During that stretch, the Lobos outscored the home team, 14-5, to retake the lead. UNM held its largest lead of the game with 11:30 left at 53-44 following a corner 3-pointer from Anthony Mathis.
Air Force caught fire in the final 10 minutes of the game, starting with an 8-0 run that brought the Falcons within a point at 53-52. Tim Jacobs hit a 3-pointer on the wing to keep the Lobos ahead, but the Falcons tied the game with 6:34 left on a Hayden Graham 3-pointer. Back-to-back buckets from Williams and Brown gave the Lobos a 66-61 lead with five minutes left, but the game slipped away from there.
The Falcons made their next five shots to build their second seven point lead with two minutes remaining. The resilient Lobos nearly earned their second comeback of the week, cutting the deficit to 75-72 with 10 seconds left. The Lobos tied up the Falcons on the inbounds pass and received the jump ball with seven seconds on the clock. Unfortunately, the game-tying 3-pointer was no good, allowing Graham to seal the game with a free throw on the opposite end.
The Lobos finished the day shooting 41.1 percent (23-for-56) from the floor. Air Force shot 48.2 percent (27-for-56) from the floor but were held to 33.3 percent (8-for-24) from deep.
The Lobos will complete their Colorado road trip on Tuesday at Colorado State on CBS Sports Network at 8 p.m. MST.