ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team took down Utah State Tuesday night, 74-61, to win its fourth straight game. The Lobos are now 13-8 on the season and 6-3 in Mountain West action.
“I thought we played some good basketball offensively in the first half,” said UNM coach Craig Neal. “Our guys stepped it up a little bit in the second half – we made some key plays and some key stops.”
It was Elijah Brown that led the Lobos again, finishing with 24 points and eight rebounds. He was 8-for-13 from the field, 2-for-5 from the three and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. He also finished with three assists and a steal.
Tim Williams and Connor MacDougall also finished the game in double-figures. Williams finished with 13 off of 6-for-11 shooting, while MacDougall finished with 10 points in his first game back since Jan. 7 when he suffered a concussion. He was perfect from the free throw line in six attempts.
“Connor is going to have a bright future and I thought he showed that tonight,” Neal said. “He got his chin to rim and he’s a good shooter. I’m really happy for him.”
The Lobos jumped out to an 8-7 lead into the first media timeout. The game went back and forth until the next media timeout when the game was tied 17-17. Williams pushed the lead to 20-17 after a three-point play and a two with 8:18 to go in the half. The two teams continued to battle the rest of the way, but UNM came out on top at half, 32-29.
New Mexico remained three points ahead in the first four minutes of the second half, as each team scored eight points. The Lobos would outscore the Aggies 10-4 in the next four minutes, all 10 points coming from Brown.
Defense played a key role in the final eight minutes of the game. The Lobos held off Utah State from scoring for six minutes and 17 seconds. In that stretch, the Lobos went on a 10-0 run to take a 64-49 lead.
Utah State wasn’t going down easy as the Aggies put together a 7-0 run themselves. But for the fourth straight game, the Lobos made key free throws down the stretch to secure the victory. In the final three minutes, the Lobos went 10-for-10 from the foul line, including six makes from Brown and four makes from Jordan Hunter.
“We really got to the line in the second half – which we needed to do,” Neal said. “We improved tonight.”
On the game, the Lobos shot 50 percent (27-for-54) from the field, 25 percent (3-for-12) from the three and percent (17-for-17) from the foul line. That 17-for-17 is one of the best performances in school history in a conference game.
Off the bench, the Lobos outscored the Aggies 22-16. The Lobos outrebounded Utah State 33-28 and scored 18 points off 12 Utah State turnovers.
The Lobos are a half-game out of first in the Mountain West. They will have first place on the line on Saturday as they travel to Nevada. That game is set for 1 p.m. PT/2 p.m. MT and will air on CBS Sports.