USAF ACADEMY, Colo. – In a game that had 13 ties, the University New Mexico men’s basketball team came out on top, defeating Air Force 74-67 on Wednesday night to improve to 15-10 on the season and 8-5 in the Mountain West. It was the first win at Air Force since the 2011-12 season.
We didn’t turn the ball over tonight,” said head coach Craig Neal. “We made timely shots and made some threes.”
Sam Logwood led the Lobos against the Falcons, finishing with 17 points off 7-of-11 from the field, 1-of-1 from the three and 2-of-2 from the foul line. He also had six rebounds, an assist and a block. Elijah Brown was the second leading scorer for the Lobos with 13. He was 3-of-13 from the field and 6-of-7 from the foul line. Brown led the Lobos in assists with four and finished with two steals.
After suffering an injury against Nevada on Jan. 28, Dane Kuiper returned and came off the bench for the Lobos. In his first game back, he finished with 12 points, going 4-of-5 from the three.
It was a close game from start to finish. The Lobos went on to a 15-13 lead within the first eight minutes of the game. It was back and forth until Air Force took their largest lead of the game, leading the Lobos by six, 24-18.
In the final four minutes of the first half, the Lobos pushed to an 8-0 run, led by Anthony Mathis, who made a trey. The Lobos took the lead 32-29 with 2:17 left but Air Force kept right in there, tying the game up 34-34 in the final five seconds of the half.
It was back and forth again to start the second half, but the Lobos took their biggest lead of seven with 9:44 left in the game. In that stretch, the Lobos went on a run, powered by three straight threes from Kuiper.
The Lobos made their final field goal of the game with 7:11 left to play. They had to rely on free throw shooting the rest of the way, as the final 12 points came from the charity stripe. The Lobos only missed two free throws in that stretch.
Air Force brought the game within one with 1:47 left to play. Air Force only shot five times but missed all of their opportunities. The Lobos made 6-of-6 from the foul line to secure the victory.
For the game, the Lobos shot 41.8 percent from the field, 36.4 percent from the three and 71.4 percent from the foul line. Off the bench, the Lobos outscored the Falcons 31-14 and had a 9-6 advantage off turnovers. The Lobos only finished with five turnovers on the game.
The Lobos will have their first bye game on Saturday and will return to action next Tuesday, playing host to Boise State at 8 p.m. MT inside WisePies Arena – The Pit. The game will air on CBS Sports Network.