Roman Martinez was one of the most beloved Lobos in The Pit on Saturday.
"Ro Martinez, Ro Martinez," Section 26 chanted incessantly.
Against the Ole Miss defense, Martinez helped UNM improve to 6-4 with a 103-70 victory over the Rebels.
For the second straight game, the junior forward from El Paso, Texas, had a standout effort for the UNM men's basketball team.
Against San Diego on Wednesday, Martinez went 5-of-8 from the field, finishing with a team-high 12 points and six rebounds.
Against the Rebels, Martinez went 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. He went 7-for-13 in field goals and capped his 17 points with five steals and 12 rebounds.
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The 12 rebounds for Martinez were a career high. He finished with eight offensive boards, seven of which came before the 10-minute mark in the first half.
Head coach Steve Alford said Martinez's defensive involvement spurred his offensive production.
"He gets loose balls; he takes charges," Alford said. "When you get eight offensive rebounds, you have done an incredible amount of work."
As for his eight offense boards against the Rebels, Martinez said it's the luck of the bounce.
"I am going to go out there, get as many offensive rebounds and do my best to get any rebounds to help my team out," he said.
The effort against the Rebels was Martinez's second career double-double with UNM.
The Ole Miss came into Albuquerque with two great guards in Chris Warren and David Huertas.
Warren and Huertas had combined to score nearly 55 percent of the Rebels' points this season, but they met their match against the Lobos.
"I think in past games, when we take the other team's biggest punch, we would kind of falter and go down from there," Martinez said. "But against Ole Miss, we took their punches and responded."
Martinez finished with only three assists but did give senior dunk specialist Tony Danridge a gift.
With 6:49 left in the game, Martinez stole the ball from Ole Miss forward Kevin Cantinol. But instead of driving hard for a fast-break layup, Martinez stopped at the top of the key and passed the ball to a wide-open Danridge.
Danridge finished the play with a one-handed windmill jam to put the Lobos up 90-60.
Senior Daniel Faris said Martinez's play has been tremendous this season.
"Roman is one of the hardest-working guys I have met," Faris said. "Like he said, the ball is going his way, but that is the thing - the ball isn't just going his way. He is working his tail off and is getting around box outs to give us a huge lift."
