LAS VEGAS, Nev. — The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team fell 65-60 to Fresno State in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championships Thursday evening at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Despite 16 points from junior guard Elijah Brown — including two deep three-point baskets in the final minutes — and 15 points from senior forward Tim Williams, the Lobos (17-14) couldn’t hold off a late offensive charge from the Bulldogs (20-11), who advance to Friday’s semifinals.
“I thought you saw two really good teams play a hard-fought game,” New Mexico head coach Craig Neal said.
Although the loss ends New Mexico’s shot at winning the conference tournament and earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Lobos gave the reigning MW Tournament champions a run for their money for most of Thursday’s contest.
Fresno State led for only 6 minutes, 1 second of the game, and never exerted more than a six-point lead on UNM.
“I’m proud of our kids,” Neal said. “I’ve had a great time coaching them, fun time coaching them. We’ve had some ups, we’ve had some downs. We had a lot of fun. We had some adversity. But these two guys next to me [Brown and Williams] had a heck of years, and our team had a good year. I was proud of the way they competed today.”
The Lobos opened the game well, running out to a 10-5 lead after a Jalen Harris corner three pointer. A 12-3 run fueled by two baskets by Dane Kuiper and a Brown trey pushed New Mexico’s advantage to a game-high 12 points at 22-10.
Fresno State would answer with a 7-0 spurt to come to within five points at 22-17, and the Bulldogs eventually tied the game at 26-all after four Deshon Taylor free throws.
UNM would retake the lead at 29-26 after a Williams’ bucket and free throw, but Brown was whistled for a flagrant foul on the heels of an Obij Aget foul, which led to four straight Fresno State free throws and a 33-31 Bulldog lead.
The Lobos then scored four points before Taylor connected on a three-pointer with three seconds to give Fresno State a 36-35 halftime lead.
Coming out of intermission, New Mexico scored six quick points, including a pair of Williams’ layups to take a 41-36 advantage. However, the offense on both sides stalled for the next five minutes, as both teams scored just once each from the 17:50 mark to the 12:45 mark.
Fresno State reclaimed the lead at 46-45 after a Taylor jumper with 11:10 left, but traded the lead back three times before Williams notched two free throws for a 51-48 Lobo lead.
A goaltending violation on the Bulldogs put UNM up 54-53 with 3:34 left, but Fresno State’s Taylor notched his final three-pointer of the night to give Fresno State the lead for good at 56-54.
Brown converted one of his late three-pointers to bring UNM to within three points at 60-57 with 1:21 left, but after Fresno State gathered an offensive rebound with 48 seconds left, Jahmel Taylor put the game out of reach with a final three-pointer with 18 seconds left.
“They hit some tough shots,” Neal said. “I think the biggest thing is they have two guys that can shoot the ball really well.”
Brown’s 16 points led New Mexico, with Williams joining him as the only other Lobo with double-figure points. Aget finished with a game-high 11 rebounds and added seven points and two blocks, while Kuiper chipped in eight points on a flawless 4-of-4 shooting from the floor.
The Lobos shot 40.7 percent overall (22-of-54), better than Fresno State’s 36.8 success rate (21-of-57) from the field.
However, New Mexico, which entered the game ranked first in the MW in free-throw percentage at 75.2 percent, hit just 12-of-22 free throw (54.5 percent). The Bulldogs converted 83.3 percent of their foul shots (15-of-18).
“We didn’t shoot free throws like we’ve been shooting all year,” Neal said. “We missed ten. And that includes three front ends, would have gave us three more. So it’s just one of those things.”
Both teams finished with relatively even stats otherwise, including close margins rebounding (37-34 in favor of UNM), assists (14-10 UNM) and points in the paint (26-24 FS).
Both teams also committed 11 turnovers each, but the Bulldogs managed a 17-8 advantage in points off turnovers.
“When we shoot 50 percent from the foul line and we give up 17 points on turnovers, we’re going to struggle,” Neal said. “But we couldn’t get separated. … We just couldn’t get away from them. And then they made three huge shots in the last three minutes.”
Deshon Taylor posted a game-high 21 points for Fresno State, including a 8-for-8 performance from the charity stripe. Jaron Hopkins added 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists.