LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team suffered a 64-62 loss to San Diego State on Friday night in the semifinals of Mountain West Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center. The Lobos (23-10) had their run at the tournament end in the semifinals for the second straight season, while the Aztecs (22-10) advance to Saturday’s championship game.
Deyton Albury led the Lobos with 20 points, his fourth 20-point game of the season. Uriah Tenette added 11 points, while Tomislav Buljan had eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Aztecs jumped out to an early 6-0 lead over the first two minutes of play before the Lobos answered with a 9-0 run to take a 9-6 lead with 15:30 left. UNM would take a 16-11 lead with 11:00 left and held a 16-13 advantage at the midway point of the half. A 10-0 Aztec run gave SDSU a 21-16 lead with 7:15 to play, but UNM answered with a 7-0 run to retake the lead, 23-21, with 6:00 left. SDSU would respond with a 6-0 run to take a 30-25 lead with 3:45 left and held a 37-33 lead at the break. Buljan had seven first-half points to lead New Mexico.
In the second half, the teams traded baskets for several minutes with SDSU leading 41-39 with 16:00 left. The game was tied, 44-44, with 13:00 left before the Aztecs held a 50-46 lead at the midway point. An 8-1 UNM gave the Lobos a 54-53 lead with 6:30 to play, but SDSU answered with back-to-back hoops to lead 57-54 with 5:00 left. The Aztecs led 60-56 with 3:45 to play and 62-58 with 1:00 to go. A pair of Albury free throws closed the gap to 62-60 with 0:50 left and an Albury layup with 25 seconds to go tied the game. SDSU retook the lead, 64-62 with 2.1 to play and the Lobos’ final attempt at the buzzer missed.
LOBO NOTES
• New Mexico had a season-high 20 offensive rebounds
• Buljan had his nation-leading 16th game with at least five offensive rebounds
• Buljan had his sixth consecutive double-figure rebounding game, the third-longest streak in program history (and longest since Drew Gordon had a seven-game streak in 2010-11)
QUOTABLE
“It was a disappointing outcome. We fought and competed and gave ourselves a chance. It was another game against a really good team that came down to a couple of plays at the end, and they made them. All three games against them this year have been one possession games that could have gone either way. I am really proud of our group. We appreciate all the fans that made the trip. Pit West is a real thing and our fans should know how much our guys appreciate that. They don’t take that for granted.” – Eric Olen
UP NEXT
The Lobos will now await the announcement of any potential postseason play.