Lobos Split with Colorado State to Break Streak
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team snapped its streak on Saturday night with a 77-65 victory over Colorado State in front of 11,207 fans inside Dreamstyle Arena – The Pit. The Lobos were led by sophomore Makuach Maluach who collected a game-high 23 points for a new season-high.
The Lobos (12-16, 6-10 MW) outrebounded the Rams (12-17, 7-9 MW) by a margin of 22, 47-25 marking the second straight game that UNM has outrebounded its opponent by more than 15 boards.
Not only did Maluach lead the Lobos in scoring, he also registered his first career double-double with 10 rebounds. He was one of three Lobos to rack up 10+ rebounds, led by redshirt-junior Carlton Bragg (14) and junior Corey Manigault (11).
Bragg also posted three steals and finished just one point shy of his third double-double of the season with nine points.
The last time UNM had two or more 10+ rebounders was on Jan. 5 against then-No. 5/6 Nevada.
“Certain elements of tonight’s game went the way we wanted them to,” head coach Paul Weir said. “We’ve really been emphasizing rebounding lately and tonight I thought that’s what really made the difference for us.”
The Lobos also had four players score in double figures including Maluach, senior Anthony Mathis (16) and redshirt-sophomores Vance Jackson (12) and Keith McGee (10).
UNM led by as many as 19 points in the second half against the CSU squad that claimed a 15-point victory the last time the teams met on Jan. 12 (91-76) in Fort Collins.
The Lobos got out to a five-point lead in just the first 1:41 on a pair of layups by Jackson and Bragg and a three from Mathis (7-2) before CSU tied it up for the first of three times in the match, 9-9, at the 16:51 mark.
The first half was a lot of back-and-forth before the Lobos slowly crept out to another 5+ point cushion when McGee hit a three with 9:14 left in the first half to put the Lobos up by seven, 22-15.
Colorado State again battled back and cut the Lobo lead to four with 6:57 left in the frame before the Lobos embarked on a 7-1 run, capped by a Bragg layup to put UNM up by 10, 32-22, with 3:29 left.
At the break, the Lobos went into the locker room on top by eight, 35-27. UNM is now 8-3 on the season, 5-2 in Mountain West play, when leading at the half.
The Lobos built on the lead in the second half. With 12:11 left on the clock, CSU had whittled a 14-point Lobo lead down to nine, 51-42, before the Lobos went on an 11-1 run to extend the UNM lead to a game-high 19, 62-43, with 7:31 left on the clock.
The 11-1 run included four points from Bragg on a pair of layups, two points each from Mathis and Manigault, followed by a three from Jackson to cap the run and bring fans to their feet.
The Rams got the game back down to single digits just twice, fouling as the clock ran down while using all four of their timeouts.
The Lobos made all eight of their free throws over the final 1:18 including six from Mathis. He was 6-for-6 from the line on the night and is shooting 89.3 percent from the stripe on the season.
On the night, the squads finished relatively even statistically with the Lobos outshooting the Rams 46.4 percent to 46.3 from the floor. Both teams made nearly 65 percent of their free throws while UNM outshot CSU from behind the arc 33.3 – 26.7 percent.
UNM is set to return to action on Wednesday, March 6 as the squad takes on Boise State for the only time this season on Senior Night at 7 p.m.