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SAN JOSE, CALIF. — The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team claimed a 71-68 victory over the San José State Spartans on Saturday marking its second road victory of the season and first in cherry uniforms. With the win, the Lobos once again even their record and claim sole possession of third place in the Mountain West.
UNM (12-12, 7-4 MW) was led by four players to score in double figures including senior Antino Jackson (17), junior Anthony Mathis (15), senior Joe Furstinger (12) and senior Sam Logwood (10). Furstinger also added seven rebounds, four offensive, a career-high tying four blocks, an assist and a steal.
With the loss, SJSU falls to 3-19 on the season and remains winless in the Mountain West (0-11).
The Lobos started out strong opening with 3-pointers from Mathis and junior Chris McNeal before going on a 10-0 run to make it an 11-point game, 13-2, at just the 15:23 mark.
UNM stretched the lead to 13, the largest of the game, with 10:14 left in the first half on another Mathis three, making the score 21-8. Mathis went 4-of-8 from behind the arc on the night.
It was then that SJSU began a comeback that led to a three-point Spartan lead at the half. SJSU went on a 17-3 run over 5:24 to overcome the deficit and claim the lead, 25-24.
The score was tied twice more before UNM went into the half down 39-36. The Lobos are now 3-11 on the season when trailing at the half, 3-4 in conference play.
A Furstinger layup kicked off the second half and reduced the home-team lead to one, 39-38. After a good SJSU free throw, Jackson hit another three to give the Lobos back the lead, 41-40, with 17:23 left to play.
UNM went up by as much as six, 48-42, following a Mathis three and a Logwood layup before SJSU’s Jaycee Hillman tied it up again, 53-53 with 8:35 left. The score was also tied at 57-57 and junior Troy Simons nailed two threes within 35 seconds to put the Lobos back up by one.
The final tie was a 62-62 score with 4:12 left when UNM’s Logwood hit a layup followed by a Furstinger free-throw to put UNM up by three, 65-62, with 3:02 left.
Logwood drew a foul with 1:49 on the clock and the Lobos up by two, hitting both free throws to make it a four-point game. A Furstinger steal put the ball back in Logwood’s hands for a layup for another six-point advantage, 69-63. SJSU went on a 5-1 run over 36 seconds to narrow it back to a two-point game, 70-68 until Logwood iced it with another free throw with two seconds left for the 71-68 final.
Mathis has now registered 11-straight games scoring in double digits. Overall, the Lobos were outshot 47.1-41.4 percent and outrebounded 43-19. However, UNM went 11-of-35 from behind the arc (31.4 percent) compared to 3-of-13 (23.1 percent) for the Spartans.
Saturday marked the first time this season that both the UNM men’s and women’s basketball teams won on the same day.
The Lobos return to action on Tuesday as they host (RV) Boise State at 8 p.m. on ESPNU in Dreamstyle Arena – The Pit.