Saturday night's contest between the UNM men's basketball team and West Virginia University came down to a duel between the two best players on the court - Lobo junior Ruben Douglas and Mountaineer freshman Jonathan Hargett.
Unfortunately, Douglas' shot didn't find the target, while Hargett's did and gave West Virginia an 88-85 victory in the championship game of the Hispanic College Fund Classic tournament at The Pit.
Hargett's NBA-range 3-pointer with 10.7 seconds left capped a sterling performance by the heralded freshman. Meanwhile, Douglas' three with three seconds left bounced off the rim. Lobo freshman forward Jamaal Williams grabbed the rebound, raced out to the 3-point line, but his attempt was off, hitting the side of the backboard.
And thus ended a game that saw the Lobos make several second-half comebacks, but could not get that critical basket to take the lead.
"We lost to a team that will be a very good team this year," UNM head coach Fran Fraschilla said. "We had to play guys more than we needed to, so obviously we were fatigued. I thought the effort we made was great. I thought the comeback was great. For the most part, we kept our poise and composure."
Despite getting 26 points from Douglas and 23 more from junior point guard Marlon Parmer, UNM was undone by timely Mountaineers rebounding and Hargett's heroics, who led all scorers with 28 points and earned the tournament's most valuable player award.
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"We got beat by a great player and a good solid team," Fraschilla said. "Everybody talked about this guy coming in, Hargett, and I wouldn't say he single-handedly beat us, but he had a lot to do with it."
The Lobos also struggled to cool off West Virginia's hot shooting, which ended at 53 percent for the game. The Mountaineers also hit 10-of-21 3-pointers, led by Hargett's seven. The Lobos countered that with a 29-18 free throw shooting advantage, hitting 23 of their attempts while the Mountaineers hit 10.
UNM was also plagued by first-half turnovers and the mysterious disappearance of senior guard Eric Chatfield. The Lobos turned the ball over 12 times in the first half, which led to 18 points for the Mountaineers. Sophomore forward Patrick Dennehy led the way with six turnovers.
Dennehy, who rebounded to score nine points and grab 12 rebounds despite playing the last six minutes with four fouls, said he was just trying to find his rhythm.
"I just ended up being on the floor more than I thought because of the fouls I picked up," Dennehy said.
Chatfield scored only two points and was pulled six minutes into the game. He came in for a 40 second period a couple of minutes later, then played his final time from 5:21 to 2:45 left in the first half. Chatfield declined to talk to reporters after the game and Fraschilla did not speculate why he did not play the rest of the game, only to say that Chatfield told him he didn't want to play. Fraschilla said his absence hurt the team, especially on defense.
"He didn't want to be out there," Fraschilla said. "I don't know what it is, but it's ludicrous. We'll go with the guys that we have."
The Lobos held a 37-27 rebounding edge, but the Mountaineers grabbed key caroms that helped them extend their lead, especially on the offensive end. West Virginia scored 13 second-chance points in the second half, and most of them either stymied a Lobo comeback or extended West Virginia's lead.
A critical play was when junior forward Chaz Briggs rebounded a Hargett miss and was fouled. He hit one of two free throws to give his team a 62-55 lead. With 7:24 left, junior forward Josh Yeager scored on a putback of senior guard Lionel Armstead's midrange jumper that gave the Mountaineers a 77-69. Tyrone Sally gave West Virginia's biggest lead of the game at 85-76 with 3:01 left when he grabbed a Chris Moss miss, was fouled and hit one of two free throws.
That was when UNM began its comeback behind Dennehy and Parmer. Dennehy made his presence felt immediately as he scored on a spin move and was fouled. His free throw cut the lead to six, and on the next possession he grabbed a Douglas miss and put it back in off the glass.
Parmer cut the lead to one on a pull-up three in transition with 1:07 left. Then junior Senque Carey deflected a Hargett pass that Dennehy grabbed. Dennehy got the ball to Parmer, who drove in and was fouled by Armstead.
With a chance to take the lead for the first time since late in the first half, Parmer's first free throw bounced off the front of the rim. He hit the second one to tie the game at 85 with 36.5 seconds left, which set up the finale between Hargett and Douglas that bounced West Virginia's way.
