The Lobos showed they could gut out a win against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Runnin' Rebels on Saturday night.
UNM was abysmal from the three-point line - 6-for-28 - and not much better from anywhere else. The Lobos made 35 percent of their field goal attempts but still managed to out-play UNLV in the 62-58 win.
The game marked Danny Granger's return to the lineup. He notched a double-double with a team-high 10 rebounds and 11 points, but Granger still showed signs of rust.
He was ice-cold from behind the arc, going 0-for-6. Coming into the game, the 6-foot-8-inch forward led the Mountain West Conference in three-point accuracy at 54 percent.
"I couldn't buy a shot, man," Granger said. "All of them were short. Coach was telling me that I wasn't jumping off both my legs, and it would keep being short. But it's all right, because we won, and that's all that matters. It's just a matter of time. I'm going to shoot every day, and I'll get it back."
Four Lobos scored in double figures. Mark Walters led with 15.
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It was a back-and-forth first half for the squads, with the Lobos leading by five at halftime.
The second half, on the other hand, started badly for UNM. The Rebels went on a tear to start the last frame, scoring 14 straight points punctuated with Granger's goaltend on a layup attempt by UNLV's Romel Beck.
"They score straight to open the half, and we don't score for seven minutes," head coach Ritchie McKay said. "The teams that we've had here in the past who didn't shoot their way back in from behind the arc would not have pulled out that victory."
The percentages clearly show that wasn't the case. McKay said winning was just a matter of staying strong through adversity.
"A rusty Danny Granger, a tired David Chiotti, Mark and Troy (DeVries) having off nights - I was phenomenally proud that we grinded a win out," McKay said.
Down 37-29, the Lobos started clawing their way back. Threes by Walters and Jeff Hart cut into the lead. A spectacular alley-oop from DeVries to Alfred Neale with just more than 10 minutes left got the crowd roaring and the deficit to three.
"It feels excellent," Granger said. "Usually we're a pretty good three-point shooting team, and things weren't going our way, so that was a real good win. It's not like we shot great or someone had 25 points. We just played together as a team, played good defense and got the win, even though it was kind of ugly."
Chiotti and Neale were the other two players in double figures for the Lobos, with 11 and 12 points, respectively.
Along with his double-double, Granger had five assists, four steals and two blocked shots.
UNLV's Odartey Blankson was the game's high scorer, with 21.
