ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team continued its home win streak with an 83-74 win over Fresno State on Wednesday night at The Pit. The Lobos (15-4, 6-2 MW) won its 22nd straight home game as they knocked off the Bulldogs (9-10, 3-5 MW).
Jake Hall led New Mexico with 16 points, his fifth straight double-figure game. Uriah Tenette matched his career high with 15 points while recording a career-high four steals. Tomislav Buljan had 12 points and 10 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season, while Deyton Albury added 11 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams traded baskets early before UNM used a 14-0 run to take a 20-7 lead at the midway point of the half. The Lobos pushed the lead to 27-12 with 5:00 left in the half as the run was extended to 21-5 over ten minutes of action. Fresno State cut the margin to 29-20 with 2:45 left in the half before UNM used a 7-1 run to take a 36-21 lead with 1:15 left. The Lobos would take a 36-23 lead into the break as Buljan and Hall led the Lobos with 10 points each in the first half.
In the second half, Fresno State cut the lead to 39-31 with 16:00 left with a 7-0 run. UNM answered with an 8-0 run to push the margin to 47-31 with 14:00 to go. The Bulldogs would trim the margin to ten with 12:00 to go before UNM extended it to 57-43 at the midway point. The Lobos took a 20-point lead with 8:00 left at 65-45, a lead they held at 71-51 with 4:45 left. Fresno State cut the lead to seven in the final minute of play before UNM closed out the 83-74 win.
LOBO NOTES
• New Mexico’s 22-game home win streak is tied for the third-longest in program history and tied for the fifth-longest active streak in the nation
• Antonio Chol remains the only player in the Mountain West to make a three in every game this season
• Despite all the three Lobo freshmen averaging double figure scoring (Hall, Buljan, Tenette), Wednesday’s game was just the second time this season all three scored in double figures in the same game (Nebraska)
• Luke Haupt (5 steals) and Uriah Tenette (4 steals) became the first Lobos to each have at least four steals in same game in two seasons (Donovan Dent and Nelly Junior Joseph at New Mexico State in 2023-24) and in a Mountain West game since 2002-03 (Mark Walters and Ruben Douglas at Colorado State)
• Buljan’s eight double-doubles are second most by a UNM freshman (trailing JT Toppin’s 12 in 2023-24)
• Hall has 54 threes on the season, one shy of the UNM freshman record of 55 by Kendall Williams in 2010-11
• Haupt had six assists and five steals, marking just the fifth time in the past 15 years a Lobo has had six assists and five steals in a game (Jaelen House three times, Donovan Dent once)
QUOTABLE
“It was a good result. I thought we played well for a lot of the game. The defensive activity was impactful with 18 steals. They were missing their point guard, so I thought our guys did a good job of taking advantage of that. We had 29 points off turnovers and a lot of that was defense to offense.” – Eric Olen
UP NEXT
The Lobos will conclude the homestand on Saturday with a matchup against Nevada (14-5, 6-2 MW). Game time is 6 p.m. and the game will air on FS1. Tickets are on sale now at GoLobos.com/tickets.