LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team suffered its first loss of the season, falling to New Mexico State 76-68 on Saturday night in this year’s Rio Grande Rivalry matchup at the Pan American Center. The Lobos fall to 3-1 on the season, while the Aggie remained unbeaten at 3-0.
Deyton Albury led the Lobos with 18 points, while Uriah Tenette added 13 points off the bench. Tomislav Buljan had 11 points and 13 rebounds to record his second straight double-double.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams traded baskets early with the Aggies leading 7-6 after the opening five minutes of play. The Aggies surged to a 23-13 lead at the midway point of the half before UNM trimmed the margin to 26-22 with 4:00 left in the half. The Lobos continued the run to 8-0 as Buljan converted an and-one to give UNM a 27-26 lead with 1:30 to play. The game was tied at 27-27 at halftime with Buljan leading UNM with seven first-half points.
In the second half, the Lobos took a 38-33 lead with 15:45 left in the contest. The Aggies scored five straight points to tie the game, 41-41, with 13:30 left to play. The game remained tied, 49-49, at the midway point of the half. NMSU used a 6-0 run to take a 58-52 lead with 6:45 to play, but six straight from Albury tied the game a minute later. The Aggies led 67-63 with 4:00 to go before a Tenette three cut the margin to one with 3:00 left. But that would be as close as the Lobos would get as NMSU would hold on for the victory.
LOBO NOTES
• The loss snapped the Lobos’ three-game win streak in Las Cruces, as UNM hadn’t lost at the Pan American Center since 2018-19
• Albury’s 18 points were the most by a Lobo this season
• Albury led the Lobos in scoring for the first time this season, meaning that a different Lobo has led the team in scoring in each of the first four games (Jake Hall/Uriah Tenette, Buljan, Chris Howell, Albury), the first time UNM has accomplished that feat since 1997-98 (Lamont Long, Kenny Thomas, Clayton Shields, Royce Olney)
QUOTABLE
“I thought we were excited to play and our preparation was good, but we got off to a slow start. We were shaky with the ball in the first half and had some plays we would like back. We did a good job of overcoming that and fighting back. They just made a few more plays down the stretch and hit some big shots. We made some mistakes defensively that they made us pay for and credit to them for doing that. Losing is disappointing and losing this one is extra disappointing, but we need to learn from it and play better moving forward.” – Eric Olen
UP NEXT
The Lobos’ will travel to Kansas City next week for the Hall of Fame Classic. On Thursday, New Mexico will meet Nebraska in the tournament’s first semifinal (6 pm CT/5 pm MT), with Kansas State and Mississippi State meeting in the second semifinal at T-Mobile Center. Thursday’s winners will meet in Friday’s championship game (8:30 pm CT/7:30 pm MT), following the consolation game (6 pm CT/5 pm MT). All games of the tournament will be broadcast on Peacock and the Lobo Radio Network.
Lobos Edged by New Mexico State 76-68 in Rio Grande Rivalry
