Lobos Edged by Colorado in Last-Minute Thriller
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team trailed by just one point with seven seconds left on the clock against Pac-12 opponent Colorado on Tuesday night in Dreamstyle Arena – The Pit, but the Buffaloes closed the game with a pair of free throws to win it 78-75. Tuesday’s game was featured on ESPN2 and played in front of nearly 11,000 fans.
UNM, which led for over 32 minutes on the night, was once again led by senior Anthony Mathis who registered his third 20-point game of the season with 23 before fouling out in the final seconds. He was followed offensively by senior Dane Kuiper (11) and redshirt-sophomore Vance Jackson (10).
Mathis was back in full force Tuesday night going 4-for-4 from deep and 4-for-5 from the floor in the first frame. He finished 7-for-10 from 3-point range on the night matching his career high.
The Lobos (4-4) jumped out to an early lead on the Buffaloes (8-1), getting ahead by as much as 17 points with 7:07 left in the first half before Colorado began to close the gap. UNM led by nine at the half after CU’s Deleon Brown hit a long three at the buzzer to cut a 12-point Lobo lead down to single digits.
In the first half, the Lobos embarked on an 11-0 run and fired at a clip of 45.7 percent from the floor while holding the Buffaloes to 36.4 percent. From 3-point range, UNM shot 41.7 percent in the first half compared to 27.3 for the Buffs. The Lobos were explosive in the first half, racking up 43 points while causing 12 turnovers for 25 points at head coach Paul Weir’s targeted break-neck speed. The Lobo energy faded in the second half however, as UNM forced just one more turnover through the final 20 minutes.
“We had 10 deflections in the second half and forced one turnover. We got out to an early lead which is unusual for us. Early leads don’t mean anything,” Weir said. “The first half was a good 20 minutes, they might have been 20 of our better minutes of basketball on the season but when you have 10 deflections in a half you’re never going to win a game.
“Our energy dropped as if we didn’t know how to play with a lead and we missed some 50/50 balls that could have gotten us a few more (deflections). Hopefully we will be able to fix this going forward.”
In the second half, UNM built a 14-point lead at the 15:54 mark with a 7-0 run that included layups from freshman Drue Drinnon and junior Karim Ezzeddine, as well as a three for Mathis to make it 52-38 Lobos.
Colorado whittled UNM’s lead down to four over the ensuing 4:58 to make it a 52-48 game with 10:56 left. The game remained a single-digit game.
The Buffaloes continued the comeback and made it a one-point game with 8:53 left before Mathis and Jackson hit threes on a 6-2 Lobo run to push the Lobo lead back to five. Colorado responded with the next five to tie the game at 64-64 on a pair of free throws by CU’s Namon Wright. The Buffaloes added two more points on a layup from McKinley Wright to take the lead, 66-64, with 4:33 left. Colorado never relinquished the advantage.
Colorado extended its lead to six for its largest lead of the game with 1:35 left but the Lobos cut it back to one, 76-75, with seven seconds left on another pair of back-to-back threes from Mathis and Jackson along with a jumper from sophomore Vladimir Pinchuk.
With the clock winding down, Mathis committed his fifth foul to stop the clock with five seconds left. The Lobos attempted to overcome a narrow one-point deficit, but CU’s Lucas Siewert hit both free throws to make it a three-point game.
The Lobos fired off one last shot, a long, contested three by Jackson at the buzzer, but it didn’t fall and Colorado escaped with the 78-75 win.
On the night, UNM shot 41.4 percent from the floor compared to 41.9 percent for Colorado while the Lobos outshot the Buffaloes from 3-point range 40.0 – 26.3 percent. For the seventh game out of eight this season, UNM racked up at least 10 3-pointers (10-25). UNM was outrebounded 51-38 and capitalized on turnovers for 25 points compared to 13 for Colorado.
The Lobos are set to return to action on Sunday, Dec. 16 when they host Central Arkansas at 2 p.m. The game marks the first that highly-anticipated transfer Carlton Bragg will be eligible to compete.