Lobos Post Largest Margin of Victory of the Season in 99-68 Win Over Texas Southern
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team posted its largest margin of victory of the season, downing Texas Southern 99-68 on Sunday night at The Pit. The Lobos (5-1) remained unbeaten at home this season while handing the Tigers (1-5) their fourth straight loss.
Tru Washington led the Lobos with 19 points and 10 rebounds, posting his second career double-double. Mustapha Amzil matched his UNM career high with 18 points while Donovan Dent had 11 points and five assists. Filip Borovicanin tied his career high with 11 points off the bench, while Kayde Dotson had his second career double-figure game with 10 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lobos got off to a quick start, forcing an early timeout by the Tigers after taking an 8-2 lead over the first 2:30 of the contest. The Tigers would rally to draw even, 16-16 with 11:00 to go before UNM led 19-16 at the midway point. UNM would lead 22-21 with 8:00 left before a 7-1 UNM run pushed the margin to 29-22 with 4:30 to go. A 9-0 Tiger run gave them their first lead of the night, 31-29, with 2:15 left. New Mexico ended the half on a 9-0 run, capped by a triple from Braden Appelhans to give the Lobos a 38-31 lead at the break.
In the second half, the Lobos opened on a 7-0 run to push the lead to 45-31 over the opening two minutes. The lead would grow to 61-42 with 12:00 minutes remaining in the contest before the Lobos led 69-48 at the midway point. An 11-0 Lobo run pushed the advantage to 77-48 with 8:00 to play before making the score 93-58 with 5:00 to go. The lead would be as many as 39 in the final three minutes as UNM closed out the 99-68 victory.
LOBO NOTES
• All 12 Lobos who appeared in the game scored in the contest
• New Mexico’s 61 second-half points are the most in a half of the Richard Pitino era
• UNM had 10 steals, the fifth time in six games the Lobos have had double-digit steals this season (last year with Lobos tied a school record with 12 double-figure steal games, but the first didn’t come until the eighth game of the season)
• Mustapha Amzil reached the 1,000 career milestone with his fifth point of the night
• New Mexico started five players averaging double-figure scoring, the first time it had done that in the sixth game of the season or later since the 2005 NCAA Tournament game vs. Villanova
QUOTABLE
“I thought we played really well. I think UCLA was our best performance, but all-around we did a lot of great things tonight. I thought we missed some open looks in the first half that we converted on in the second half. We continue to turn teams over at a high rate. The energy level from the jump was way better than Grambling.” – Richard Pitino
UP NEXT
The Lobos will travel to Palm Springs next week for the Acrisure Classic. New Mexico opens the tournament with a Thanksgiving night matchup with Arizona State (8:30 pm PT on TruTV). The Lobos will play either USC or Saint Mary’s on Friday in either the championship or consolation game.