Lobos Edged by New Mexico State in Overtime
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team rallied to force overtime, but fell to New Mexico State 89-83 on Saturday night at The Pit. The Lobos (7-3) came back from 15 down in the second half to force overtime, but the Aggies (4-5) used a 10-0 run in the extra period to secure the win.
Nelly Junior Joseph had 16 points and tied a career high with 17 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. Donovan Dent had 15 points and Braden Appelhans tied a career high with 14 points off the bench. Mustapha Amzil had 10 points as four Lobos scored in double figures.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lobos used an early 8-0 run to take a 10-4 lead after five minutes of action. New Mexico pushed the lead to 25-15 with 11:10 left, forcing an Aggie timeout. UNM’s lead grew to 14 at 33-19 with just over 8:00 left in the half before a 16-2 NMSU run tied the game 35-35 with 4:50 left. The Aggies took a 47-37 lead with 2:00 to go after a 12-0 run before taking a 47-38 lead into the break. Appelhans had 11 points, setting a season-high, in the first half to lead New Mexico.
In the second half, the Aggies scored the first four points to push their lead to 13 in the opening minutes and eventually led by 14 with 14:00 to play. A 6-0 Lobo run cut the margin to 54-46 with 12:15 to play, but seven straight from the Aggies made it an 15-point game with 10:40 to play. An 8-0 Lobo run, started by back-to-back triples by Amzil and Kayde Dotson cut the deficit to 63-58 with 8:00 to go. The Aggies led 70-66 with 4:00 to go before a CJ Noland triple tied the game, 70-70, with 1:50 left. After NMSU took a 73-70 lead, the Lobos had the ball with 0:14 left and Appelhans’ tying three-point attempt was knocked off the rim for goaltending to tie the game with 1.5 left, forcing overtime.
A 10-0 run by the Aggies gave them a 83-75 lead with 2:00 left in overtime. The Lobos couldn’t overcome that deficit as NMSU closed out the 88-83 win.
LOBO NOTES
• The Lobos’ 15-game win streak in December was snapped
• Both of New Mexico State’s two wins in the series over the past five years have come in overtime at The Pit (also in 2021-22)
• Dent has 75 assists through the first 10 games of the season, fourth-most in Lobo history over the first 10 games
• New Mexico shot a season-low 35.7 percent from the floor
• The game was the first sellout of the season, with an attendance of 15,411
QUOTABLE
“Credit to New Mexico State. We built a big lead, up 14, and they came back and built a big lead, up 15. We just came up a little short. We fought in the second half to send it to overtime. We just didn’t get stops in the first half and missed a lot of layups in the second half. We just have to be better. Coaches, players, all of collectively have to be better. We are not playing good basketball right now. We did not play well against San Jose State, but we were fortunate. This felt like that game. New Mexico State in overtime was 4-for-5 and we were 3-for-15. We offensive rebounded well, but we could not make anything around the basket.” – Richard Pitino
UP NEXT
New Mexico will return to action the following Saturday as the homestand continues Dec. 14 against Western New Mexico. Tip-off for that game is now 5:00 p.m. (a change from the original schedule) and tickets are on sale at GoLobos.com/tickets.