The UNM men's basketball team had Brigham Young University on the ropes Saturday but could not supply the knockout blow, losing 68-62 Saturday on the road.
BYU extended the nation's longest home-court winning streak by rallying from a 12-point second-half deficit to beat UNM (14-9, 4-5 in the Mountain West Conference).
Travis Hansen, who finished with a game-high 20 points, led the Cougars on a 29-11 scoring run in the second half to snatch the lead from the Lobos, who now have lost five of their last seven games.
"To their credit they made some shots and we missed some shots," UNM head coach Fran Fraschilla said. "We came away empty on a number of occasions. We had good defense, we got some rebounds; shots just didn't go down."
The Cougars trailed 51-39 with 13:07 left to play before Hansen's 12-point flurry. BYU has now won 33 straight home games.
The Cougars tied the game at 57 when freshman Jared Jensen scored on a pass from Mark Bigelow with 3:50 left on the clock. Bigelow then scored with 3:29 left to give BYU the lead for good at 59-57.
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Bigelow added 14 points and Eric Nielsen dropped in 10. UNM was led by Patrick Dennehy's 16 points and Eric Chatfield's 12.
Cody Payne had his best game as a Lobo, recording 11 points and eight rebounds, both career-highs. BYU (15-8, 5-5) has now won five of its last six games against the Lobos.
The last time BYU lost in the Marriott Center was Feb. 17, 2000, when UNM beat the Cougars 78-74.
Fraschilla said the Lobos' defense broke down in the final minutes when BYU roared back.
"There comes a certain point in the game down the stretch when you just have to stop your man," he said. "We didn't do a good enough job doing that. We allowed some triple penetration and they made some tough shots. They made some acrobatic shots around the basket."
Fraschilla credited the second half scoring of Hansen and Bigelow as a major factor in the Cougars' comeback.
"Today, he (Hansen) had two field goals at the half and got going in the second half," Fraschilla said. "That was, I think, one of the big keys in the game, that Bigelow and Hansen got going, the two guys they really rely on to score."
Neither team could get an advantage in the first half as the biggest lead was four points. The game was tied at 34 at halftime.
UNM remains on the road to play the University of Utah in Salt Lake City tonight in ESPN's "Big Monday" feature at 10 p.m.
While the Lobos' losing streak continued, Utah had trouble against the conference spoiler - Air Force Academy.
Britton Johnsen scored seven of his 17 points in a 19-5 stretch over the last six minutes, and the Utes rallied to beat the Falcons 59-51 Saturday night.
Utah coach Rick Majerus missed the game with a bronchial infection. Assistant coach Dick Hunsaker filled in for him.
Trace Caton gave the Utah (18-5, 8-2 Mountain West) its first lead at 47-46 with 4:39 to play when he stole the ball and converted two free throws following a foul by A.J. Kuhle on the breakaway.
Kuhle led Air Force (9-13, 3-6) with 13 points and Tom Bellairs added 12 points for the Falcons.
The Utes made just one of their first seven shots and did not hit double figures until 4:32 left in the opening half, when reserve Phil Cullen hit a 3-pointer to get it to 22-12. Cullen followed with another 3 and converted a pair from the line as Utah went on a 13-0 run to tie the game at 22.
Air Force led 28-24 at halftime and took a 46-40 edge on Bellairs' layup with 7:18 to go.
The Falcons did not score again until Bellairs converted a layup with one minute left.
Staff and wire reports
