RENO, NEV. — The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team nearly pulled off an exciting upset over defending Mountain West Champions Nevada on Saturday on the road, falling 77-74 after a missed, last-second 3-point attempt.
The game marks the third tough contest this season that the Lobos have dropped by just one basket including against NMSU and now-ranked No. 10 TCU.
The Lobos (6-9, 1-1 MW) were led by junior Anthony Mathis who posted a career-high 17 points on the night including 5-for-8 from behind the arc. Three more Lobos also added double digits including seniors Sam Logwood (12), Antino Jackson (12) and Joe Furstinger (10).
Not only did Furstinger rack up 10 points, but he also posted 10 rebounds for his fourth straight double-double performance on the season. Jackson nearly notched a double-double of his own, adding eight assists to his 12 points.
“I think our style of play really wore them down most on the defensive end. I thought our quality of shot in the second half was terrific – we had layups, we had threes, we had wide open shots a lot,” head coach Paul Weir said. “I’m glad theoretically that some of our things we’re trying to do are working, but they’re obviously not working enough to win a game.”
Nevada (13-3, 2-0 MW) also had four players score in double figures on the day including a pair of 20-point scorers in Caleb Martin (24) and Jordan Caroline (21).
As a team, the Lobos were just barely outshot from the floor 43.9-42.9 percent but held an advantage from behind the arc, 34.4-33.3 percent, and outrebounded the Wolf Pack 41-32.
Trailing 70-63 with 6:01 left to play, the Lobos went on a 7-0 run over 1:06 to tie it up 70-70 with 4:55 left on the clock. The run included back-to-back 3-pointers from Mathis within 30 seconds.
Nevada got back on top, leading by four on a pair of Caleb Martin jumpers to make it 74-70 with 1:59 left.
Martin and Logwood went back and forth to make it 76-74 before Nevada’s Caroline hit 1-of-2 free throws to put the Wolf Pack up by three with 17 seconds left.
Mathis attempted a three with seven seconds on the clock, rebounded out of bounds by Nevada, allowing the Lobos a final play. UNM called a timeout and inbounded the ball to junior Chris McNeal in the corner for three, but Nevada’s Lindsey Drew came up with the block into the stands and with 2.3 second left, Coach Weir called UNM’s final timeout.
The Lobos attempted one last 3-point play but were unable to get the shot off for the 77-74 final.
UNM forced a season-low five turnovers while committing 14. The Lobos did, however, continue their free throw streak, going 81.8 percent from the free throw line (9-of-11) compared to 65.6 percent for the Wolf Pack (19-29).
The Lobos will remain on the road for their next Mountain West matchup. UNM travels to Boise State for an ESPN3 game on Wednesday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m. MT.