The UNM men's basketball team and West Virginia University engaged in a shootout at The Pit Saturday, with the guards taking center stage in the Lobos' 88-85 loss.
It was strength versus strength when the Lobos and Mountaineers battled it out for the championship of the Hispanic College Fund Classic.
Three of the guards for the Mountaineers and four of the Lobo guards accounted for most of the points for their teams and most of the excitement.
"It was sensational," head coach Fran Fraschilla said. "We made a lot of big shots, they made a lot of big shots and they made one more big shot."
UNM's guard play led by juniors Marlon Parmer, Ruben Douglas and Senque Carey and senior Tim Lightfoot combined to score 64 points on 21-of-40 shooting, haul in nine rebounds and dish out 12 assists.
"Everybody knows about our guards; we're all experienced players," Douglas said. "We all can step up at any given night."
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The perimeter play of the Mountaineers was just as effective, with its guards Jonathan Hargett, Lionel Armstead and Drew Schifino combining to score 50 points, hand out 12 assists and get their hands on seven steals.
"College basketball and basketball period is going the way where you have to have good guards to win games," Douglas said. "They have some good guards, especially their point guard. He shot the lights out and you have to give him credit for that. We shot well, we did well offensively, but we had some defensive lapses and I think that's what cost us the game."
Both teams had defensive lapses on the perimeter, but most of the time the guards were hitting tough shots with defenders in their face, producing their offensive potency.
Douglas showed why he is arguably the teams most explosive offensive player and a preseason all-Mountain West Conference selection.
He scored 35 points and set a school record for 3-pointers with nine in the Lobos victory against the University of the Pacific 85-66 Friday to advance to Saturday's championship game.
"I was just trying to do whatever it takes to win," Douglas said. "(Friday) my shot was falling. It seemed like the ocean; everything I was throwing up went in."
With West Virginia cognizant of Douglas's outside shooting, the Mountaineers adjusted and started to overplay Douglas and force him to drive.
That is when Douglas showed off his offensive repertoire as he came off screens for pull up jumpers, dribbled into the lane for short jumpers and drove to the basket in scoring a team-high 26 points.
"When you are out there you got to read the defenders," Douglas said. "Some games they are going to play off you and you have room to shoot. And some games they are going to crowd you so you take it to the whole or pull up on them and that's what happened (Saturday)."
The battle of the guards was especially at the end of the first half and UNM leading 29-26.
With five minutes remaining, the perimeter players of the Lobos scored the final 13 points of the half while the Mountaineer guards scored the teams final 19 points.
"We know that we really like to shoot and watching them on tape, knowing that Douglas had nine threes, we kind of figured it was going to be a shootout," Armstead said. "We tried to do the best job we could getting a hand in their face because they are such good shooters."
While most of the Lobos' damage was done on the inside with slashing drives, the Mountaineer guards took to the perimeter to do most of their damage.
West Virginia hit 10-of-21 3-pointers, including seven from Hargett.
He hit several three's well beyond the 3-point line and showed why he has been voted as the preseason rookie of the year in the Big East Conference.
"This atmosphere doesn't faze him," West Virginia assistant coach Drew Catlett said. "He has played against some great competition. If he is playing against Kobe Bryant, he thinks he can take him and score; it's just his personality."
Catlett said it was exciting to see two teams with such quick guards going head-to-head.
"Both teams were setting a lot of high screens on the ball and getting penetration," he said. "The guard play was so quick that it was breaking down the defense. So it was who made the basket at the end was whoever had the ball at the end."
