FRESNO, Calif. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team recorded the biggest comeback in school history on Saturday night, rallying from down 22 in the first half for an 80-78 win at Fresno State at the Save Mart Center. The Lobos (21-6, 12-4 MW) outscored the Bulldogs (12-15, 6-10 MW) 62-38 over the game’s final 25 minutes to win its fourth straight road game.
Deyton Albury led New Mexico with 21 points and eight rebounds, the highest scoring game of his Mountain West career. Jake Hall scored 20 points for his ninth 20-point game of the season. Luke Haupt added 10 points for the Lobos.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 9-0 lead over the opening two-and-a-half minutes of the game and extended the advantage to 21-5 with 13:40 left as they made 9-of-10 field goals to start. Fresno State led 26-12 at the midway point of the half before holding their largest lead, 40-18, with 5:15 to go. A 7-0 Lobo run cut the margin to 40-25 with 3:45 to play and another 7-0 run made the margin 42-32 in the final minute. Fresno State held a 44-32 lead at the break, as Hall led UNM with 12 first-half points.
In the second half, the Lobos got within single digits at 46-37 with 18:15 left and cut the score to 51-43 with 15:45 left. An 11-1 UNM run cut the margin to 52-48 with 15:00 to go and Fresno State led 56-54 with 12:00 to play. The Lobos took their first lead of the game, 61-60, just seconds after the midway point of the half. The game was tied, 66-66, with 6:00 left and 70-70 with 4:15 to play. An Albury layup-and-one with 2:25 left gave the Lobos a 77-74 lead before the Bulldogs cut it to 77-76 with 43 seconds to go left. A Hall jumper with 20.2 to go gave UNM a three-point lead as the closed out the two-point win.
LOBO NOTES
• The 22-point deficit was the largest comeback in program history, breaking the previous record of 20, set at Hawaii in 1993 (Lobos rallied from down 31-11 to win 61-58)
• Combined with the 15-point comeback against Alabama State on Nov. 26, the 2025-26 Lobos become just the second squad in program history to rally from down 15 or more to win in the same season (the 1998-99 Lobos did it three times – vs. DePaul, vs. Arizona, vs. UTRGV)
• It marked the first time this season that UNM had two 20-point scorers in a game
• Hall scored in double figures for the 13th straight game, the second longest streak by a UNM freshman
• Hall’s nine 20-point games are now five more than the previous UNM freshman record of four
QUOTABLE
“I am proud of how our guys kept fighting and never gave up. It just didn’t feel like us to start. We had a little bit of a break with a bye and then a game with a pretty big separation and we weren’t at the level we needed to be at over the first 15 minutes. I thought the close to the half was important to get back within striking distance and we were able to carry that into the second half.” – Eric Olen
UP NEXT
The Lobos will conclude the road trip on Tuesday with a visit to Nevada. Game time in Reno is 9 p.m. and the game will air CBS Sports Network.