McKay puts four on the floor

by Andre van der Merwe

Daily Lobo

The UNM men's basketball team

has had to scrounge to put points on

the board recently, and head coach

Ritchie McKay doesn't have a problem

with that at all - so long as the Lobos

are winning games.

UNM has averaged a paltry 51 points

per contest in the last five games, but

in those five, it's managed to squeak

out three victories.

McKay will be the first to admit the

Lobos' offensive problems, but at the

same time credit their stingy defense

for forcing opponents to build elegant

houses of bricks.

"I think defense wins down the

stretch. We got to have some more

scoring. I recognize that," McKay said.

"Our defense (has) kept us in it."

It's not only defense that helped

the Lobos (17-11, 8-7 in the Mountain

West Conference) to a winning record

so far - it's also the four seniors who

left The Pit on Wednesday night in

prime fashion.

On senior night, all four seniors

started in a 47-39 win over the University

of Nevada-Las Vegas. Senior Jeff

Hart, who hasn't been a starter all season,

took full advantage of his opportunity

by hitting a three-pointer to start

the game.

However, it wasn't McKay's intention

to start him just because it was his

last chance to play in The Pit.

If Hart's play Wednesday was any

indication of another chance to start,

McKay might throw him in the starting

lineup for Saturday's game at Brigham

Young University.

"Actually, we didn't start him because

of senior night," McKay said.

"He's had a great week of practice,

and we need another shooter. We just

needed someone that can get more

separation."

That separation helps open up the

court for big men like senior David

Chiotti.

With an added three-point shooter in

there, Chiotti becomes one of the team's

offensive threats. But the big man's not

concerned with the Lobos' offense so

much as he is with putting Masterlocks

on the opposing team's shooters with

one game left in the regular season.

"We've been in games, and we've

won games because we're holding

teams to low field-goal percentage and

low scoring," Chiotti said. "That's just

our game plan."

Although it was their last night at

home, Chiotti said he knows the road

ahead and knows it's far from over.

"We still feel we have a lot of basketball

left," Chiotti said. "Our season

is not over yet. We're pretty confident

with our team and how we're playing.

We feel we can go to the (NCAA) tournament

still."

Senior Kris Collins helped end the

Lobos' home games on a memorable

note as well. Collins is quick to give

credit to the post players and said

he knows how important it is to the

team's success for them to play well

coming into the MWC Tournament.

"You know you got to treat your big

men good," Collins said. "We still got

a lot more games hopefully to play,

so you know you got to keep your big

men happy."

With an alley-oop pass off the glass

from Collins in the waning seconds

Wednesday night, Chiotti scored his

last two points at The Pit with a dunk

that brought the fans to their feet.

"I mean, it's our last home game

here, so you might as well go out with

a senior highlight," Collins said.