ALBUQUERQUE, N.M – In 1966, the University of New Mexico men’s basketball team topped the Abilene Christian Wildcats by nine points, 62-53, the first game ever played in The Pit. Fifty years later, in the same iconic building – The Pit, the Lobos topped the Wildcats for the ninth straight time in program history by nine points, 64-55. The Lobos are now 5-2 on the season and 4-0 inside WisePies Arena – The Pit.
“I think one of the reasons the guys came here was because of this place (The Pit),” said head coach Craig Neal. “I’m very fortunate and blessed to be the coach here. I want to thank our fans that came out tonight because that was special for all of us.”
Three Lobos scored in double-figures, including a team-high 13 points from junior Elijah Brown. He was 5-for-12 from the field, 2-for-4 from 3-point range and 1-for-3 from the foul line. He also led the Lobos in rebounds with nine rebounds.
“I thought Elijah played a lot better tonight – he moved the ball better and changed sides on the floor better. He had a couple missed shots but, all in all, I thought he played the better game.”
Senior Obij Aget finished the game with 12 points. He was 4-for-6 from the field and 4-for-5 from the foul line. Junior Xavier Adams was the only other Lobo in double-digits, adding 10 points off a 3-for-4 effort from the field.
The game started off a little slow for the Lobos. Aget put up two good free throws at the 18:28 mark but the Wildcats went on a 7-0 run in the next two minutes. Abilene Christian took their biggest lead of five at 16:46, but the Lobos worked their way back to retake the lead for good off after a layup from Tim Williams.
“We had some good spots and some bad spots,” said Neal. “I’m just trying to take away positives. I thought we made some mistakes. We’ve got to work on some assignments defensively.”
The Wildcats called for a timeout with 7:01 left in the half after the Lobos went on an 8-0 run. In that run, Williams and Joe Furstinger produced the action for the Lobos. The Lobos defense also held the Wildcats to a three-minute scoring drought in that stretch which led to a 35-28 halftime score in the Lobos favor.
Out of the half, the Lobos continued to push on the offensive side of the game, going up by their biggest lead of 15 points with 6:52 left in the game. Abilene Christian brought the game back within 10 with five minutes left to play, but the Lobos only allowed the Wildcats to score three more times during that span.
The Lobos took advantage in the paint, out-scoring the Wildcats 34-18. They also took advantage of the Wildcats’ 14 turnovers to produce 21 points. Off the bench, the Lobos won that battle 27-25 with Connor MacDougall leading with eight.
For the game, the Lobos shot 47.8 percent (22-46) from the field, just 18.2 percent (2-11) from the three and 72 percent (18-25).
It will be another quick turnaround for the Lobos, as they will face Illinois State Saturday on the road. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. MST/7 p.m. CST. The game will be available on ESPN3. Fans can also listen to Robert Portnoy and Lobo great Hunter Greene on 770 KKOB, New Mexico’s flagship radio station.