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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Behind a season-high 20 points from senior Antino Jackson and senior Joe Furstinger’s fifth double-double of the season, The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team posted a 75-66 victory over Wyoming in Dreamstyle Arena – The Pit on Wednesday night.
New Mexico (8-10, 3-2 MW) claimed its second consecutive win after a 33-point rout of San José State on Saturday. The Cowboys (11-6, 2-2 MW) dropped their second conference game of the season after taking down (RV) Boise State in overtime on Saturday at home.
The Lobos trailed by five at the half, 32-27, but rallied in the second for a comeback victory. Prior to Wednesday’s matchup, UNM was 0-9 when trailing at the half while Wyoming was 6-0 when leading.
Four Lobos scored in double figures on the night including Jackson with his most as a Lobo (20), Furstinger (17), freshman Makuach Maluach (17) and junior Anthony Mathis (16). Junior Chris McNeal also added five points on the night.
“These guys, they defy logic. I don’t want to get too emotional or too prideful or whatever, but this is as amazing of a group as I’ve ever been around,” head coach Paul Weir said. “To win a game like this tonight against a team that has beaten the best teams in our league, this is big for us.”
The Lobos shot 46.0 percent from the field, including 41.7 percent from behind the arc and 76.0 percent from the free-throw line. Jackson led the squad firing at a clip of 58.3 percent (7-12), 57.1 percent (4-7) from three while adding four assists and season-best four steals.
Maluach put the Lobos on the board with a jumper in the first minute of play, and UNM took a 7-2 lead with a Furstinger three and Maluach layup. The Cowboys answered with a 7-0 run to lead the Lobos 9-7 with 15:16 left in the first half.
Jackson hit back-to-back threes to put the Lobos ahead 13-11, followed by a Mathis three to extend the lead to five, 16-11, with 12:10 left in the half.
Wyoming went on another burst, posting an 8-0 run midway through the half to take a 23-18 lead with 7:47 on the clock. The Lobos traded baskets with the Cowboys on a pair of Maluach free throws and a Mathis three-pointer to keep the margin at five, trailing 28-23 with 3:02 to go.
The Lobos closed the Cowboy lead to three, 30-27, with a Jackson layup, but a Wyoming bucket at the end of the half left UNM down five at the break.
New Mexico ended the first half with 13 turnovers, forcing only seven, while shooting 41.7 percent (10-24) and 35.7 percent (5-14) from behind the arc. In addition, UNM had allowed Wyoming to shoot 44.8 percent from the field and 50 percent from three (4-8) including 16 points from Justin James.
“It was a pretty spirited half time, I was pretty upset and I think some of our players were pretty upset with some things that we were doing.” Weir said. “We were fortunately able to clean that up in the second half and obviously get a really big win.”
The Lobos scored the first 11 points of the second half as Jackson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Lobos ahead 33-32 with 18:10 on the clock. A minute later, Jackson added a layup to give UNM a 35-32 lead, and Mathis drilled a three to make the score 38-32 with 16:27 to play.
“I honestly really praise Coach on my second-half efforts,” Jackson said. “He really got me going and I was able to help my team. My team was telling me that they need me a lot, and I’m the point guard now, so I have to be there for the guys.”
Wyoming closed the Lobo lead back to three, 42-39, but a McNeal three widened the margin back to six, 45-39 with 14:12 left. Following a Wyoming layup, the Lobos increased the margin to seven, 48-41, with free throws from Furstinger and Mathis.
New Mexico took a 10-point lead, 59-49, on a Maluach three with 7:20 to go, then extended it to 12, the largest Lobo lead of the night, 63-51, on a Furstinger layup at the 6:16 mark.
Wyoming chipped away at the 12-point lead but never got closer than six the rest of the way. UNM went 8-for-10 from the free throw line over the final 1:12 of the game.
The Lobos improved to 50 percent from both the field and from three in the second half.
“I think it’s our best win of the season, I don’t really think there’s much question about that,” Weir said. “I think that this team is finally starting to buy into and see that you can win on emotion, you can win with passion, you can win with toughness, you can win with work ethic.”
New Mexico will hit the road to face Fresno State (12-6, 2-3 MW) on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 5 p.m. MT. The game will be available to watch live on ESPN3.