ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team dropped its final home game of the regular season with a 82-74 loss to Colorado State on Wednesday night at The Pit. The Lobos (22-8, 13-6 MW) trailed the entire night as the Rams (20-10, 11-8 MW) won their eighth straight.
Deyton Albury led UNM with 22 points on 8-9 shooting, tying his season high for points. Tomislav Buljan had 14 points and 12 rebounds for his 13th double-double of the season. Jake Hall and Luke Haupt each scored 13 points for the Lobos.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Rams jumped out to an early 5-0 lead over the opening two minutes and led 7-2 after four minutes. A 6-0 Lobo run tied the game, 10-10, with 13:30 left before the Rams held a 17-14 lead at the midway point of the half. Colorado State used a 10-2 run to lead 24-16 with 6:45 left and pushed the margin to 32-22 with 3:30 to play. Colorado State closed the half on an 8-0 run to take a 40-25 lead into the break. Haupt had six first-half points to lead the Lobos.
In the second half, the Lobos got five points from Albury in the opening 30 seconds to cut the margin to 10, but CSU used an 7-0 run to take a 54-35 lead with 16:00 left. Colorado State led 61-44 at the midway point of the half before UNM closed to 62-53 with 7:30 left. After CSU pushed the lead back to 67-53, an 8-0 UNM run cut the margin to 67-61 with 3:55 to go. 4:30 to go. UNM would get as close as four, 75-71, in the final minute before CSU closed out the 82-74 win.
LOBO NOTES
• The loss snapped the Lobos eight-game win streak on Senior Night
• Colorado State’s 62.5 percent shooting from the floor in the first half was the highest by a UNM opponent this season
• Buljan’s double-double was his 13th of the season, setting a new UNM freshman record (JT Toppin had 12 in 2023-24)
• Hall scored in double figures for the 16th straight game, setting a new freshman school record (breaking the 15-game streak by Kenny Thomas in 1995-96)
QUOTABLE
“It was a disappointing result. I did not think I put our guys in position to be successful early in the game. I thought our guys really competed and fought in the second half to try to get back in it, but when you get down that much the margin for error is basically zero and you need to play perfect basketball the rest of the way.” – Eric Olen
UP NEXT
The Lobos will conclude the regular season schedule on Saturday with a visit to Utah State. With a victory over the Aggies, the Lobos would finish with a share of the Mountain West regular season title. Game time in Logan is 2 p.m. and the game will air on the Mountain West Network.
Lobos Suffer 82-74 Loss to Colorado State in Home Finale
