Lobos Break Records, Put Up 119 at Wyoming
LARAMIE, WYO. — The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team earned an exciting 119-114 victory on the road at Wyoming on Tuesday night, marking the first time the Lobos have claimed a win inside Arena-Auditorium since January 2014. The Lobos’ 119 points is a record for most points allowed by Wyoming in their home arena in the history of the program.
The Lobos notched several records on the night and had multiple notable performances including:
-UNM broke the all-time program record for most 3-pointers in a season (301). The new record is now set at 314.
-The Lobos broke the record for most points scored in a conference game, previously 113 set against Utah on Jan. 28 1978.
-With a total score of 233 points between both squads, the Lobos broke the record for most points scored in a conference game by both teams (previously 209).
-Senior Sam Logwood and junior Troy Simons finished the game with 24 points apiece off of the bench, tying for 11th all-time in Lobo history for most points scored off the bench.
-Freshman Makuach Maluach now ranks 9th in Lobo history in most points scored by a freshman (278).
With the win, the Lobos improve to 9-6 in Mountain West play, 14-14 on the season, and claim solo fourth place in the league standings. Wyoming drops to sixth in the standings with an 8-7 record, 17-11 overall. Prior to Tuesday’s game, Wyoming was 11-3 at home including a pair of victories over the top two teams in the league, No. 20 Nevada and (RV) Boise State.’
The Lobos were led on the night by Logwood and Simons who collected 24 points apiece. Logwood went 11-for-12 from the floor collecting nine rebounds while Simons was 8-for-11 on the night including 4-for-6 from behind the arc.
Four other Lobos scored in double figures including Maluach (20), junior Chris McNeal (17), junior Dane Kuiper (11) and junior Anthony Mathis (10). Mathis extends his double-figure streak to 15 games.
As a team, the Lobos fired at a clip of 61.7%, though allowed the Cowboys to shoot 57.8% from the floor. Wyoming outshot the Lobos from 3-point range 56.5 percent to 48.1 percent, though both teams netted 13 3-pointers.
“I thought in the second half to start, I thought we were pretty good. We got a little bit of a lead there,” head coach Paul Weir said. “And then that last 10 minutes was as wild a 10 as I’ve ever been a part of. From the fouling to the up-and-down, it was just kind of a really weird game. I’m thankful we got the win, but I don’t think I’ve ever been part of a game like that.”
After heading into the half up by two, 55-53, the Lobos came out of the locker room letting up five straight points to allow Wyoming to get out to a 3-point lead. It was then that the Lobos went off on a 12-0 run that included a Simons jumper, steal and 3-pointer all within 10 seconds. The run was sparked by a 3-pointer from Antino Jackson and caped by a dunk by Logwood for a nine-point Lobo lead, 67-58, with 16:50 on the clock.
In a game that had eight lead changes, the Lobos never trailed again, getting out to a 10-point lead with 8:40 left and extending it to a game-high 15-point lead with 3:19 left on a 3-pointer by Mathis, 99-84. From that point, the Lobos scored 20 more points over the final stretch, 18 of which came from free throws.
Wyoming continued to penetrate the Lobo defense to close out the game, reducing the 15-point UNM advantage to just five as time expired. The Cowboys hit a pair of clutch 3-pointers with less than 21 seconds on the clock and scored 12 points over the last 36 seconds of the contest.
Both teams combined for an incredible 64 fouls (32 apiece) en route to 59 combined free throws made. The Lobos scored a season-high 32 points from the stripe while the Cowboys notched 27, the most against UNM this season.
Maluach scored 12 of his 20 points on the night from the free-throw line, going 12-for-15, followed by McNeal who was 10-for-12.
The Lobos return to action on Sunday, February 25 as they take on UNLV in a special 12 p.m. contest to be aired live on CBS Sports Network. The Runnin’ Rebels will be looking for revenge after the Lobos claimed an 85-81 victory on the road earlier this season, marking the first road win of the season.