Lobos Post 76-68 Road Win at Colorado State
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team recorded its first road win of the season, downing Colorado State 76-68 on Saturday afternoon at Moby Arena. The Lobos (10-3, 2-0 MW) used a 21-0 first-half run to take control of the game and hand the Rams (7-6, 1-1 MW) their first conference loss.
Donovan Dent had 14 points and six assists to lead the Lobos, while Mustapha Amzil also scored 14 points. CJ Noland scored 11 points off the bench, Filip Borovicanin added 10 points and Nelly Junior Joseph just missed a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The game got off to a slow start, with it remaining scoreless for the first three-and-a-half minutes. The Lobos continued to keep CSU off the board and led 6-0 after six minutes of action. The Rams used a 9-0 run gave them their first lead of the game, 11-9, with 11:25 left. The Lobos led 14-13 at the midway point of the half and pushed the lead to 37-16 with 2:30 to go with a 21-0 run. New Mexico would take a 41-26 lead into the break as Borovicanin led UNM with 10 first-half points.
In the second half, the Rams opened on an 8-2 run over the first three minutes to cut the margin to 43-33. UNM extended the lead back to 52-37 with 13:20 left to play and led 56-41 at the midway point. The lead grew to 18 at 63-45 with just under eight minutes to play and UNM held a 72-57 advantage with 4:00 left. Colorado State used a late 9-0 run to cut the margin to eight in the final minute as UNM closed out the 76-68 win.
LOBO NOTES
• The Lobos open conference play 2-0 for the second time in the last three years
• New Mexico recorded its first win in Fort Collins since 2017-18, snapping a six-game losing streak at Moby Arena
• UNM’s 21-0 run in the first half was the best run of the Richard Pitino era (previous best was 20-0 [vs. Western New Mexico this season and vs. Eastern New Mexico last season], and the previous best vs. a Division I opponent was an 18-0 run vs. San Diego State last season)
• The Lobos had 10 steals, their seventh double-digit steal game of the season
QUOTABLE
“Give our guys credit, coming back on Christmas and then having three great days of prep. They were ready to go. Colorado State was coming off a win at Nevada and we knew we needed to have this one. We got good balance today and we were also able to turn over 17 times a Colorado State team that doesn’t turn it over very often. We got a lot of deflections and disruptions defensively. We just didn’t rebound as well in the second half and that allowed them some of those late second-chance points.” – Richard Pitino
UP NEXT
New Mexico will conclude the two-game road trip with a visit to Fresno State on Dec. 31. The Lobos return home on Jan. 3 to host Nevada in the 1,000th game in The Pit.