Lobos Down Air Force 92-71 for 15th Mountain West Win
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team tied the school record for conference wins in a season by earning its 15th on Saturday afternoon with a 92-71 win over Air Force at The Pit. The Lobos (23-6, 15-3 MW) remain in first place in the conference while completing the season sweep of the Falcons (4-25, 1-17 MW).
Donovan Dent led the Lobos with 23 points and six assists. Nelly Junior Joseph posted his 14th double-double of the season with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Mustapha Amzil scored 15 points, while Tru Washington and CJ Noland each added 14 points for New Mexico.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lobos opened up a 6-5 lead over the opening three minutes of play before a 9-0 run made the advantage 15-5 with 13:45 left. An 8-0 UNM run made the lead 23-7 with 11:35 to play before the Falcons trimmed the margin to 25-17 at the midway point. UNM would lead 32-19 with 7:30 left in the half and pushed the margin to 36-23 with 4:00 to go. A 7-0 Falcon run cut the lead to six before the Lobos closed out the half on an 11-2 run to take a 47-32 lead into the break. Joseph had 10 points and 10 rebounds in the first half to lead New Mexico.
In the second half, the Lobos opened on an 8-1 run to take a 22-point lead at 55-33 with 18:15 left. Air Force scored six straight to cut the margin to 16 before the lead grew back to 20 with 14:30 left. A 10-2 run by the Falcons cut the lead to 65-53 with 12:30 left before UNM held a 69-53 lead at the midway point. The Lobos used a 6-0 run to take an 83-60 lead with 4:45 left and held that 23-point margin with 3:45 to go. UNM led by as many as 25 in the final minutes before closing out the 92-71 win.
LOBO NOTES
• The Lobos’ 15 conference wins ties the school record set by the 2013-14 team that finished 15-3 in the Mountain West
• UNM’s 23 regular season wins are its most since 2013-14 (24 regular season wins)
• New Mexico had 12 steals, their 12th double-digit steal game of the season, tying the school record (three previous seasons including last year)
• Joseph’s first-half double-double was the Lobos’ first double-double by halftime since Joseph had 11 points and 15 rebounds in the first half vs. Eastern New Mexico last season
QUOTABLE
“We hadn’t been home in a while and lost to two very good teams on the road. I’m proud of this team. We tied a school record for league wins. I was frustrated that when we subbed, we let up a bit defensively. But to turn a team over like that, who usually takes care of the ball, 20 times was great and that allowed us to get out on the break.” – Richard Pitino
UP NEXT
The Lobos conclude the regular season next week with a road game at Nevada on Tuesday before hosting UNLV in the home finale on Friday. Less than 1,000 tickets remain for the UNLV game, on sale now at GoLobos.com/tickets.