Lobos Downed by Utah State 91-76 in Mountain West Quarterfinals
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team had its run in the Mountain West Tournament come to an end with a 91-76 quarterfinal loss to Utah State on Thursday night at the Thomas & Mack Center. The Lobos (22-11) will now await their postseason fate while the Aggies (25-7) advance to the tournament semifinals.
Jamal Mashburn, Jr. led the Lobos with 20 points, his 17th 20-point game of the season. Morris Udeze had his 14th double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Jaelen House and Josiah Allick each scored 14 points for New Mexico, while Donovan Dent had eight points and a game-high six assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Aggies jumped out to an early 13-2 lead over the opening four minutes and would continue to hold a double-digit advantage at 25-14 with 12:00 to play in the half. Utah State’s hot shooting from behind the arc gave them a 36-25 lead with 6:30 to play in the half. The Lobos would get the deficit to single digits several times over the final minutes of the half before Utah State took a 44-33 lead into halftime. Mashburn and Udeze each had 10 first half points to lead the Lobos.
In the second half, the Lobos cut the deficit to 49-43 with 16:30 to play. The Aggies used a 12-2 run to push the lead to 61-45 with 13:20 to go in the game. The lead grew to 72-54 with 9:15 to play before an 10-0 UNM run cut the deficit to 75-67 with 5:50 to play. That was as close as the Lobos would get as the Aggies were able to extend the final margin to 15 points.
LOBO NOTES
• Mashburn moved into 9th place on the Lobos’ single-season scoring list with 645 points
• Udeze moved into 10th place on the Lobos’ single-season rebounding list with 307 rebounds
• Udeze’s 14 double-doubles this season are T-8th most in a season in UNM history
• House’s three steals gives him 82 for the season, second all-time in Lobo history for a season and two behind Hunter Greene’s single-season record of 84 in 1986-87
QUOTABLE
“A lot of credit to Utah State, they are a terrific team. I would be blown away if they weren’t in the NCAA Tournament at 25-7 and with their metrics. That is one of the best offensive teams we have played. We cut it to six, and they went on a run. We cut it to nine, and they went on a run. We just couldn’t sustain the defense or get the baskets when we needed to. The bottom line is we have so much to be proud of and to be excited about with what we did this year and what we will continue to do in the future. It was a disappointing way to end, but I am pretty sure we will play again. We will find out Sunday night and I would be shocked if we weren’t in the NIT. If we are, that is something else to be proud of this season.” – Richard Pitino
UP NEXT
The Lobos will await a postseason announcement, likely in the NIT. The NIT bracket will be announced at 7 p.m. MT on Sunday night on ESPNU. If selected, it would be UNM’s first postseason appearance since 2013-14.