Lobos Run Away in Fourth Quarter in Win Over ODU

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla.— The Lobos used runs in three quarters of Tuesday’s contest to pull away from Old Dominion in the first game of the Sun Coast Challenge and led for all but 10 seconds, winning 74-57.

Four Lobos finished in double figures, led by Shaiquel McGruder, who had a personal 8-0 run in the second quarter en route to 16 points on 7-10 shooting. LaTascya Duff produced another solid outing from three-point range, finishing with four three pointers and 14 points, the eighth time this season and the fifth-straight game that the Lobo has registered multiple three-pointers. Paula Reus added 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds, also finishing with a season-high four steals (tying a career high) and season-high five assists. Amaya Brown was the fourth Lobo to reach double figures, finishing with 13 points, going 7-8 from the free-throw line to go with three steals.

As a team, the Lobos created 14 steals with four players finishing with multiple steals and five players having at least one. It was the ninth game this season that UNM has finished with double-digit steals. McGruder was again a force on the defensive end as well, finishing with four steals and a block, the only block of the game between either team. Reus had four steals as well, Brown had three, Aniyah Augmon with two and Duff with one.

In addition, the Lobos made nine three-pointers, shooting over 40 percent (40.9%) from distance for the third time this season, and shot 46.6 percent from the floor. UNM has now won its last three games and six of the last seven.

There were three ties in the first three minutes of the game before a Reus three-pointer started a 7-0 Lobo run that included a McGruder fast-break layup and a Reus layup midway through the quarter. ODU ended the run with a 4-0 run of its own to close within three at 13-10, but LaTora Duff answered with three-pointers on consecutive UNM possessions to push the lead back to seven at 19-12 for UNM’s final points of the quarter as the Lobos held a 19-15 through one.

Nine of UNM’s first quarter points came off of turnovers and ODU held a 6-4 lead that lasted all of 10 seconds before Brown made a layup to tie the game back up, the final tie of the game.

The Lobos scored the first five points of the second quarter on a Viané Cumber three-pointer and a Nia Johnson layup, however, the Monarchs went on their best scoring run of the game, an 8-0 run to cut the lead to one at 24-23 with 5:12 on the clock. McGruder took over for the Lobos at that point, making four consecutive baskets to put the lead back to nine and to put the Lobo forward into double figures for the 10th time this season.

UNM entered the break ahead 32-25 and outscored ODU 10-2 in the paint, with McGruder nearly matching all of ODU’s point production in the quarter with eight points.

ODU closed within three points twice in the third quarter at 39-36 and 41-38, but each time the Lobos had an answer with a LaTora layup and Cumber three-pointer, respectively, to keep the lead. A LaTascya three-pointer with 44 seconds remaining closed the quarter’s scoring with the Lobos still in front, 51-43. LaTascya made two three-pointers to lead the Lobos in scoring as UNM went 3-5 from three and shot 50.0 percent in the quarter.

The largest run of the game occurred in the fourth quarter as UNM first used a 6-0 run to push the lead to double figures at 57-46 with 8:02 left to play. A McGruder layup started what amounted to a 16-0 run over a span of 3:46 to push the margin to 24 points at 73-49. At that point, UNM was outscoring ODU 22-6 in the quarter. The Monarchs cut the lead down to 16 before Reus closed the scoring with a free throw for the final 74-57 score.

Brown accounted for nine points in the final quarter, going 7-7 from the line, while LaTascya added six points on two three-pointers. Brown and Augmon recorded two steals each in the fourth, with the Lobos credited with six steals (McGruder and Reus each had one).

The Lobos (7-4) close out the Sun Coast Challenge against Mississippi State (10-2) on Wednesday at 11 a.m. MT/ 1 p.m. ET.