Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good; sometimes it's better to be good than lucky. And sometimes it's best to be lucky and good.
With The Pit stuffed with 15,277 fans, the UNM men's basketball team was good enough, and fortunate enough - as in Fortune 500 fortunate - to ring up an 81-62 win over BYU on Saturday.
Even above the noise level of The Pit's boisterous throng, the sound of crisp bills running across fingertips could be heard - everything the Lobos shot in the first half was cash.
UNM was 17-of-32 (53.1 percent) from the field compared to BYU's 12-of-30. At the intermission, it was 41-34 Lobos.
Still, there was a half to go, and fans were probably expecting an uneasy one.
Invoking memories of last year's colossal collapse, the Lobos held an 11-point advantage, 68-57, with 6:25 to go. Last year, BYU trailed 58-50 with the same amount of time remaining. The 3:01 mark rolled around - at the same point last year the Cougars had rallied to tie the game at 58 apiece - and the Lobos had a firmer grasp on the game, 76-59.
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There would be no comeback from this.
No Trent Plaisted for BYU equaled no problem for the Lobos.
Last year at The Pit, Plaisted pasted UNM for 23 points, including the game-winning free throws in overtime.
"I was mad at him last year," head coach Steve Alford said. "I forgot about him this year."
Forgot about him? One Lobo didn't.
"I almost wish he was around," center Daniel Faris said. "I would definitely like another shot at him. He got the best of me a few times."
And forget about the stinging one-point loss.
Early in the first half, the pace was exhausting. There were at least six short, concise spurts where the teams ping-ponged runs off each other. UNM started off going up 5-0 in the first 1:30 of the game. BYU battled back and took an 11-9 lead, thanks to an 8-2 burst lasting 1:08. Lobos' turn: 8-2 in 1:57. Then the Cougars went 6-0 in 42 seconds to reclaim the lead 19-17. Again, UNM responded, this time a 9-0 surge in 1:57 to jostle the lead to 28-21.
While the first half was all about quick hits, the second was defined by a 21-8 blitz that scuttled the Cougars' boat. It put the Lobos up 78-59 with a little less than three minutes to go.
UNM held BYU's big three - Lee Cummard, Jonathan Tavernari and Jimmer Fredette - to a combined 35 points. Before Saturday, those three had combined to account for 61.8 percent of BYU's points.
"That's just a great job by our guards," Faris said. "They had a job to do and they did it."
Faris had a game-high 19 points, while Roman Martinez awoke from a slumpy slumber to chip in 15 on 4-of-7 shooting. Tony Danridge, who once again mystified the crowd with an array of creative shots, had 13.
Alford was thankful for Martinez's all-around effort. And he gladly complimented the forward.
"I wouldn't have traded him for anybody at the other end," Alford said. "To see him break out and make some shots was a lot of fun."
That's something, considering that last year's co-Mountain West Conference Player of the Year - Cummard - was on the same court. Cummard, who came in averaging 18.1 per contest, had just seven points. Remarkably, the Lobos held BYU to just eight points in transition. The Cougars had been feasting on teams in that respect.
Not Saturday, Faris said.
"I just told the team when we are in one of our timeouts not to let up," Faris said. "It was a great team effort in every aspect of the word."
