ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – It was a special night inside WisePies Arena – The Pit Saturday night, as the University of New Mexico men’s basketball team used a second-half surge to claim a 64-59 victory in front of a season-high announced crowd of 13,958 on Senior Night.
The Lobos finished the Mountain West regular season in fifth place with a 10-8 record and will play the No. 4 seed Fresno State Bulldogs on Thursday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. MT in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. On the year, the Lobos are now 17-13.
“Really proud of their effort and how hard they played tonight,” said head coach Craig Neal. “Just wanted to make it the best performance they had at home. We had great fans tonight and that brought a lot of energy for us.
“I think there’s something about senior games. We came out with a win and we needed it.”
Elijah Brown led all scorers with 29 points on a 6-of-19 shooting effort. He was 2-of-8 from the three and had a career-tying 15 made free throws of a career-high 17 attempts. Seniors Tim Williams, who returned after missing the last seven games due to a stress reaction in his left foot, and Obij Aget each added 10 points. Aget finished with 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
The night started out slow for both teams as SDSU started off 1-of-9 from the field, while the Lobos were off to a 2-of-14 shooting night. Obij Aget turned up his game and scored the first six points for the Lobos, taking a 6-3 lead into the first media timeout of the game.
“I didn’t think we had bad shots, but we were a little anxious and San Diego State was a little anxious. We had opportunities, but we just couldn’t get it to go in.”
But the Lobos didn’t get a bucket until the 10:16 mark, trailing 10-8. SDSU took a 19-14 lead over the Lobos with 4:11 to go in the half, but the Lobos went on an 11-5 run to finish out the first half with a 25-24 lead. In that stretch, Brown had a three-point play that force a SDSU timeout. SDSU took a 24-23 lead over the Lobos with 24 seconds on the clock but Brown his two free throws to end the first half.
The Lobos came out on fire in the second half on both ends of the floor. On the defensive side, the Lobos held SDSU to just two scores within the first five minutes of the half. That allowed the offense to go on a 12-2 run and lead SDSU 39-28.
“We got some good stops early in the second half, and it’s probably the best second half start we’ve had in a long time.”
New Mexico would go on to extend the run to 16-2 and force the Aztecs to a timeout. The Lobos would go up by 15, their biggest lead of the night, at the 13:45 mark but the Aztecs regained their momentum, cutting the Lobos’ lead to six with 3:39 left to play.
“We had that big 16-2 run that really helped us but that was probably the best defense we played all year,” said Neal.
SDSU began to foul to regain possession, but the Lobos did what they do best, made their free throws. In the last minute, the Lobos were 6-of-8 from the free throw line, which helped secure the victory.
For the game, the Lobos shot 35.8 percent from the field, 25.0 percent from the three and 67.6 percent from the free throw line. San Diego State shot 31.5 percent from the field, 19.0 percent from the three and 56.8 percent from the foul line.
The Lobos will head to the Mountain West Tournament next week, taking on the Fresno State Bulldogs Thursday in the quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. MT. The game will air on CBS Sports Network.
*Note: Four Lobo seniors were honored after the game. Estevan Sandoval (Manager), Devon Williams, Tim Williams and Obij Aget were honored for their careers as a Lobo. For senior videos, visit @UNMHoops on Twitter.