PHOENIX – The New Mexico men’s basketball team snapped a two-game losing streak with a 70-64 road win at Grand Canyon on Wednesday night at Global Credit Union Arena. The Lobos (19-6, 10-4 MW) held off a comeback from the Lopes (15-9, 8-5 MW) to secure the season sweep of GCU.
Jake Hall led UNM with 23 points, extending his UNM freshman record for 20-point games. Tomislav Buljan had 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds, while Antonio Chol added 12 points for the Lobos.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lobos jumped out to an 11-0 lead over the first five minutes of action as the Lopes missed their first nine shots. The lead grew to 19-6 with 12:30 left before the Lobos held a 21-10 lead at the midway point of the half. After GCU closed to within eight, UNM pushed the margin to 31-15 with 6:00 left in the half. The Lobos extended the lead to 38-18 with 4:00 as GCU used its third timeout of the first half. The Lopes used a 7-0 run to cut the margin to 13 with 1:15 left before UNM took a 40-27 lead into the half. Hall had 12 first-half points to lead New Mexico.
In the second half, the Lobos pushed the margin to 16 over the first two minutes before GCU closed to gap to 11 at 46-35 with 16:15 left. The Lopes used an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 51-48 with 11:00 to play before UNM held a 54-51 lead at the midway point. GCU took a 55-54 lead with 9:30 left with a continuation of a 15-3 run. The teams would trade the lead for several minutes with the Lopes holding a 62-60 lead with 6:00 to play. UNM retook the lead, 63-62, with 2:45 left and pushed the margin to 65-62 with 2:00 on a Buljan putback. A baseline jumper from hall with 29 seconds left pushed the lead 67-64 before UNM pushed defensive rebounds and free throws to close out the 70-64 win.
LOBO NOTES
• UNM’s win marked the first road win in the seven-game history of the series with GCU
• The Lobos shot a season best 56.3 percent (9-16) from three, eclipsing the previous season-best of 50.0 percent (8-16) in the home game against Grand Canyon
• Hall set the Mountain West record for threes by a freshman, now with 78, eclipsing the previous record of 75 by San Jose State’s Rashad Muhammad in 2013-14
• Hall had his eighth 20-point game of the season, doubling the previous UNM freshman record of four
• Hall scored in double figures for the 11th straight game, tied for the second-longest streak ever by a UNM freshman
• Chol scored in double figures for the first time since Jan. 17, a span of seven games
QUOTABLE
“We got off to a great start, but to sustain that isn’t realistic. We weren’t going to beat them by 40. We didn’t close the first half the way we needed to and that gave them a little more hope. In the second half, they just drove us one-on-one and we need to do a better job of guarding that. We got a few stops at the end and hit some big shots to close it out.” – Eric Olen
UP NEXT
The Lobos will have a weekend off following the game before returning to action Feb. 17 by hosting Air Force. Game time is 7 p.m. and tickets are on sale at GoLobos.com/tickets.
Lobos Post 70-64 Road Win at GCU to Complete Series Sweep
