Lobos Down Wyoming 87-76 to Advance to Mountain West Quarterfinals
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team used a strong second half to down Wyoming 87-76 on Wednesday night in the opening round of the Mountain West Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center. The Lobos (22-10) advance to Thursday’s Mountain West quarterfinals while the Cowboys fall to 9-22.
Jaelen House led New Mexico with 28 points, six assists and three steals. Jamal Mashburn, Jr. added 22 points, while Morris Udeze had his 13th double-double of the season with a 15-point, 11-rebound performance. Josiah Allick had 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lobos jumped out to an early lead, holding an 8-3 advantage with 16:10 left in the half. UNM continued to lead and was up 18-12 with 11:50 to play before holding an 18-14 lead at the midway point. Wyoming took its first lead, 25-24, with 6:25 to go in the half before the Lobos scored five straight to retake the lead at 29-25. The Cowboys used a late 7-0 run to take a 35-33 lead before taking a 38-35 edge into halftime. Mashburn had nine points and Udeze had eight points and 10 rebounds to lead the Lobos in the first half.
In the second half, Wyoming pushed the lead to four at 44-40 before UNM used an 8-0 run to take a 52-47 with 13:35 to play. The lead would grow to 67-53 with 9:00 to play after a 13-2 run by the Lobos. New Mexico would extend the lead to 76-61 with 4:00 to go before the Cowboys got within single digits at 83-74 with 1:00 left. New Mexico would close out the 11-point win at the foul line in the final minute.
Jaelen House doing Jaelen House things!! #GoLobos
💻: https://t.co/w3OZyoASak pic.twitter.com/lU6cQC3uEd— Lobo Basketball (@UNMLoboMBB) March 9, 2023
LOBO NOTES
• New Mexico rallied from a halftime deficit to win in the Mountain West Tournament for the first time since the 2019 first round, also against Wyoming
• Jaelen House’s 10-10 from the free throw line is the best performance by a Lobo in the Mountain West Tournament and ties Steve Logan’s record for a conference tournament game (Logan was 10-10 vs. UTEP in 1993)
• House’s 28 points were the most by a Lobo in a Mountain West Tournament game since Darington Hobson scored 28 vs. Air Force in the 2010 quarterfinals
• House became the third player in Mountain West history with back-to-back 500 point/125 assist seasons, joining Sam Merrill of Utah State and Jimmer Fredette of BYU
• House and Mashburn both scored 20 points in the same game for the eighth time in their careers, tying the Lobo record for a duo (Elijah Brown/Tim Williams & Hunter Greene/Kelvin Scarborough)
• House’s three steals gives him 79 for the season, third all-time in Lobo history for a season and five behind Hunter Greene’s single-season record of 84 in 1986-87
QUOTABLE
“It was a great win for our guys. We have a lot of respect for Wyoming. Hunter Maldonado is one of the best players in my 11 years have gone against. He had 36 points and I actually thought we played decent defense on him. Our offense in the second half was phenomenal. We shot 58 percent and shared the bal better. We found a way to get to the foul line and make winning plays. We knew it would be a tough game. Now we need to get some rest and get ready for Utah State.” – Richard Pitino
UP NEXT
The Lobos will play No. 3 seed Utah State in Thursday’s quarterfinal round. Game time at the Thomas & Mack Center is 9:30 p.m. MT (8:30 p.m. PT) and the game will air on CBS Sports Network