by Brandon Call
Daily Lobo
It wasn't the prettiest win for the UNM men's basketball team, but the Lobos managed to pull off an 86-58 win over Loyola Marymount at The Pit on Sunday.
UNM won three straight games on the weekend to capture the Basketball Travelers Invitational trophy.
"It's always hard playing three games in three days," head coach Steve Alford said. "It definitely showed tonight. We struggled and still managed to come out on top."
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Despite giving up 18 offensive rebounds and 21 turnovers on the night, the Lobos shot 45 percent from the field and made 13 3-pointers in the 28-point win.
"Tonight was really big for our guys, because it wasn't one of our better games," Alford said. "I've never had a team in my 17 years of coaching that shoots the three-ball the way that we do. If you can struggle offensively and still score 86 points, that's a very
good thing."
UNM came out sluggish, shooting 2-of-9 through the first 8 minutes of the game as the Lions jumped out to an early 9-4 lead.
But then senior guard Darren Prentice came off the bench and hit two 3-pointers as part of a 16-3 run as Loyola Marymount went scoreless for a 5 1/2-minute stretch in the first half.
The Lobos gained momentum and finished the first half up by 16, 43-27.
"At the half, we had no points out of two of our starters," Alford said. "Darren was pivotal for us tonight, and that's what we need. We need the senior leaders to step up, especially when the team is
struggling."
Junior forward Daniel Faris picked up two fouls within the first minute of the game to weaken the Lobos inside the paint.
"Daniel got into some foul trouble tonight," Alford said. "But he was very supportive from the bench. Two of the fouls were tough - being at the wrong place at the wrong time - but Daniel is going to be fine. He's come a long way, and this is just one of those games he has to put behind him."
Senior guard J.R. Giddens said other players rose to the occasion in Faris' absence.
"We have a lot of great scorers on the team," he said. "Not having the big guys out there, other guys have to try to rebound more and step up. We're being real unselfish right now, and the team did a good job of passing the ball around and finding the open player."
In the second half, the Lions trimmed the 16-point deficit to six with 14:21 remaining in the game.
Again, UNM received help from its bench as junior guard Chad Toppert and sophomore forward Roman Martinez sank back-to-back threes to put the game out
of reach.
The Lobos ended the game on a 24-7 run in the last 8 minutes as UNM held on for its fifth straight win of the season.
"We were fatigued tonight," Giddens said. "But we're going to have to win three straight games in March for the Mountain West Conference tournament. So, I think this is something that sets us up for that. We just have to go out there and get the job done."
Giddens scored a game-high 21 points to capture the tournament MVP honor. Prentice chipped in 19 points and earned a spot on the All-Tournament team. Martinez, matching his career high, and Toppert added 11 points each.
"There are definitely things that we need to work on - no question about it," Alford said. "But when you can go back-to-back-to-back nights with lopsided wins, that's great. We have some things to show the guys in film and work on to get ready for Hawaii on Wednesday."
Men's basketball at Hawaii
Wednesday, 10 p.m.
Honolulu, Hawaii
