LAS VEGAS - The UNM men's basketball team let fate slip out of its own hands and will have to hope its regular season was enough to impress the NCAA selection committee.
The No. 3 Lobos lost an 82-80 heartbreaker to No. 6 Utah in overtime Thursday in the first round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
UNM head coach Steve Alford said the Lobos gave a strong effort but didn't play well enough defensively to win the game.
"It was a hard-fought game," he said. "I thought both teams played with an awful lot of energy, urgency, and they got one more stop than we did."
The Lobos were arguably the hottest team coming into the Mountain West Conference Tournament, having won eight of their last nine.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
That wasn't enough for UNM to defeat Utah, a team it swept in the regular season.
UNM was one of the best defensive teams in the conference down the stretch, allowing just 56.2 points per game.
However, the Utes were able to exploit the Lobo defense, especially with 7-foot-1-inch center Luke Nevill.
Nevill finished the game with 26 points, converting 11-of-20 field goal attempts. He also grabbed eight rebounds and scored the game winning shot in overtime, playing well down the stretch despite being in foul trouble late.
Alford said Nevill presented too many matchup problems for UNM on Wednesday.
"We're not deep in that position," he said. "They really present a lot of problems because if you go trapping him, then it opens up their three ball. They're a very good shooting team that surrounds a guy that's 7-foot-1 that's got a lot of talent."
And when Nevill wasn't hurting the Lobos, it was the Utes' 3-point shooting that did. Utah finished 10-of-23 from 3-point land. The Utes' Shaun Green and Lawrence Borha each hit three 3-pointers.
Utah outworked UNM on the boards, holding a 38-30 advantage and grabbing 13 offensive rebounds to the Lobos' four.
"We got beat on the boards pretty good tonight, and I thought that was the difference," Alford said.
And once again, the Lobos hurt their own cause with poor free-throw shooting, converting just 28-of-38 attempts.
J.R. Giddens, who was named MWC co-player of the year, led UNM with 28 points and 17 rebounds. He added three assists and a block but was just 10-of-15 from the foul line.
Dairese Gary added 14 points, including the first eight for UNM.
The Lobos started hot, opening with a 12-3 lead. However, once Nevill entered the game off the bench, UNM had a hard time getting stops on defense.
Utah started to pull away in the second half, and Johnnie Bryant gave the Utes a 70-62 lead with 4:04 remaining.
The Lobos closed the margin to 71-70 after a Chad Toppert 3-pointer with 1:01 remaining and tied it at 72 with a pair of Toppert free throws.
The teams traded baskets for much of the overtime period. Giddens' dunk with 43 seconds left gave UNM an 80-79 lead before Nevill answered with a dunk with 22 seconds remaining.
Darren Prentice drove and was rejected by Nevill with 11 seconds left. Lawrence Borha made 1-of-2 free throws with six seconds left, putting the Utes up 82-80.
Giddens drove the length of the floor and got a good shot off, but the ball rolled off the rim as time expired.
Giddens said he wasn't sure if he had enough time to attack the rim more aggressively on the final possession.
"I feel like I could get to the rim, but we didn't have enough time, so I was trying to put the ball in the basket to the best of my ability," he said.
With the loss, the Lobos fell to 24-8 overall. They went 11-5 in regular season conference play. UNM had eight road wins, which tied a school record, as did the 24 regular season wins.
But rather than getting the automatic bid that comes with winning the MWC Tournament, UNM will have to wait for Selection Sunday to see if their regular season accomplishments were enough to gain an at-large bid to the NCAAs.
Alford said he is proud of what UNM did during the regular season but isn't sure if it will be enough to earn his team an invite.
"This is my first time in the Mountain West," he said. "I guess we just got to wait and see exactly happens. But as far as our body of work goes, there won't be a lot of teams 24-8. So, hopefully that's going to be enough, but we'll just have to wait and see."
