ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team began the home portion of its preseason schedule Sunday with a 92-64 exhibition victory over Washington State in the first game of the Power Ford Tip-Off Series at The Pit – Powered by Nusenda. The Lobos led wire-to-wire to pick up their second win of the preseason.
Preseason Mountain West Player of the Year Jake Hall led the Lobos with a game-high 22 points. Tunde Valhberg Fasasi shot 5-6 from behind the arc to score 15 points, while Uriah Tenette had 14 points and five assists. Imran Suljanovic scored 12 points as UNM shot 53.8% (14-26) from deep and 57.9 (33-57) from the floor overall.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams got off to a quick start offensively, with the Lobos leading 14-11 after four minutes of action. A 13-0 New Mexico run pushed its advantage to 30-14 with 9:30 left before a 6-0 run gave the Lobos a 39-19 lead with 6:30 to play. UNM pushed the margin to 51-26 at the break as Hall had 14 first-half points to lead all scorers.
In the second half, UNM scored 15 of the first 17 points to take a 66-28 lead with 13:40 to go. The Lobos held a 73-36 advantage at the midway point of the half and increased the lead to 80-38 with 8:30 left. The Cougars used a 9-0 run to cut the margin to 80-47 with 6:30 left
LOBO NOTES
• The 28-point margin of victory was UNM’s largest ever against a Division I opponent
• UNM improved to 70-7 all-time in exhibitions, but 1-1 on the road
QUOTABLE
“Thanks to everyone who came out to support us today. Our guys were excited to be able to finally play at The Pit and in front of our fans. Overall, I thought it was a step in the right direction. We did some things significantly better than last Sunday, so that is encouraging. We will look at the film and find the areas we need to keep getting better at and try to fix those.” – Eric Olen
UP NEXT
The Lobos conclude the preseason when they host Arizona State on Oct. 25 at The Pit – Powered by Nusenda as part of the Power Ford Tip-Off Series. The game will tip-off at 2 p.m. Season ticket holders are reminded to log into their account at GoLobos.com/myaccount to reserve their seats for the game at the cost of $5 per ticket. Individual game tickets for the Power Ford Tip-Off Series are also available at GoLobos.com/tickets, beginning at $15 plus fees.