Oral Roberts' Robert Jarvis was dialing in from long distance all night, but when the Golden Eagles needed him the most, the line went dead - and the UNM men's basketball team got away 66-63 after being down as much as 15, marking the Lobos' second-largest comeback in The Pit.
After two missed free throws by UNM's Jonathan Wills could have iced the game with 7.8 seconds to go, Jarvis took the inbounds pass, sliced between two defenders only to get the ball stripped by UNM's Dairese Gary.
No 3-point attempt for him.
Head coach Steve Alford said the philosophy at the end of the game was to keep Jarvis from getting any looks - let alone good ones.
"I thought, once (Kyron) Stokes fouled out (with 8:50 left), I didn't know if they had another guy on the floor that we were really concerned about making a 3, other than Jarvis," he said.
After scoring 26 points against No. 1 North Carolina, Jarvis followed up the effort with 22 against the Lobos.
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"We were trying to get (Jarvis) to speed up - get him to turn the ball over," senior Daniel Faris said. "Luckily, it just fell into my hands. I don't get too many steals, so I was pretty excited.
But Faris - although he ended up with the ball in his hands - wasn't credited with the steal, even though he celebrated like he was, running full-speed up the ramp.
Jarvis finished the night 6-of-13 from downtown, but when the 3s were most crucial, he either clanged them off the iron or didn't have enough space to let one fly.
The last of Jarvis' trey balls came with 3:47 left in the game when he hit a 3 from the corner to tie the game at 59.
"It was a huge shot for them," Alford said.
Huge, but not game-changing.
Again, this time with 1:15 seconds left and the Golden Hawks down 62-61, Jarvis attempted a circus 3-pointer at least three feet away from the line.
Clang - off the front rim.
On the other end of things, Danridge emerged with 20 points on 8-of-17 shooting.
Danridge almost single-handedly was responsible for keeping the Lobos in the game.
After a 16-2 run gave UNM its first lead of the game with 15:19 to go, Danridge took over.
Down 56-52 with 7:03 left, Danridge went on a 5-0 streak to put the Lobos up 57-56. Drawing a foul, Danridge flew hard to the hoop, laid one and got the free throw to go, pulling the Lobos within one. On the next possession, Danridge again skied towards the rim to put UNM up 57-56.
"I can't afford to go down with a .500 record my senior year," Faris said. "This team's too good; we have too much talent, and if this team's goes down to .500, it's the seniors' fault."
On this night, though, there was no worry of that happening, Faris said.
"Tony's our scorer," he said. "He's the reason we won tonight."
