RENO, Nev. – The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team (17-14, 10-8 MW) sealed the fourth seed in the Mountain West Conference Tournament Saturday with a 71-66 victory on the road against the Nevada Wolf Pack (18-12, 10-8 MW).
With the win, the Lobos earned the tiebreaker over the Wolf Pack with two regular season victories. They will face fifth-seeded Nevada again in the MW Tournament Quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. PST/3:30 p.m. MST.
You need a win and a little bit of momentum going into the tournament,” said head coach Craig Neal. “We couldn’t get over the hump, but I thought this was a consistent showing of basketball by us.”
Obij Aget earned a double-double with 12 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. He shot 5-for-10 and had two blocks. Elijah Brown was the team’s leading scorer at 17 points, while also tallying eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Cullen Neal had a game-high six assists to pair with 16 points on 5-for-11 shooting. He was 3-for-5 from 3-point range.
The Lobos played Nevada close until a 10-0 run midway through the first half earned them a lead they never gave up. The run was started by a 3-pointer from Cullen Neal, starting a streak of four straight buckets. With 1:17 left before the break, Tim Williams picked up three points the hard way, putting the Lobos up by their biggest margin of the first half at 41-26. They would enter halftime up by 13 points.
The Lobos maintained a double-digit lead for most of the second half. New Mexico worked their way to a 20 point lead at 58-38 with 10:46 left. Nevada chipped away at the Lobos lead, and made a comeback effort with five minutes to play, sealing an 18-6 run that cut the score to 71-66 with 43 seconds left. With the lead on the line, the Lobos picked up key stops, forcing Nevada to miss three straight shots in front of a lively crowd. Aget picked up his 14th rebound at the last second to seal the victory.
Overall, the Lobos shot 45.6 percent (26-for-57) from the floor and 35.7 percent (5-for-14) from deep. They were 14-for-19 from the free throw line. The Lobos held the Wolf Pack to 36.8 percent (25-for-68) shooting, 21.7 percent (5-for-23) from long range. The Lobos outrebounded the home team, 44-30, with 11 offensive boards.
Tim Williams scored 11 points Saturday and shot 5-for-10 from the floor. Xavier Adams scored six points off the bench and pulled down a career-high seven rebounds. He was a perfect 3-for-3 from the floor. Dane Kuiper rounded out Lobo scorers with three points on a shot clock-beating trey in the first half. Tim Jacobs, on his birthday, recorded two rebounds and two assists.
Complete Effort Lifts Lobos Past Nevada
