Beethoven would have been hard-pressed to compose a greater masterpiece.
On Saturday, the UNM men's basketball team and UNLV provided 17,407 fans with a rousing symphony. But when crescendo was reached in overtime, the Lobos were the ones still boppin' to the tune of 73-69 at The Pit.
It was a game UNM basketball aficionados had been waiting for.
The boredom of four home blowouts was starting to sound like a sleep-inducing lullaby: The Lobos had crushed Mountain West Conference opponents by an average of 22.8 in The Pit this season.
Same old tune? Hardly.
When the Runnin' Rebels seemed to deliver a deadly dose, the Lobos suddenly built up immunity - and vice versa.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
With 3:54 left in overtime, Mareceo Rutledge belted up a trey to give the Runnin' Rebels a 64-62 advantage. Daniel Faris knotted the game at 64. It was gone in a wink when Wink Adams upped the score to 66-64 with 1:48 remaining in the extra session.
Chad Toppert then sashayed a 3 to make the score 67-66 Lobos. He had a chance to win UNM's last meeting with UNLV at the Thomas and Mack Center, but the 3-point specialist missed a trey.
This time he didn't, and it wasn't just because of the change of venue, he said.
"I was just concentrating," Toppert said. "I didn't hesitate at all. I came around and I knew I was going to shoot it when I caught it."
But back came the Rebels.
Oscar Bellfield canned his own 3-ball - 69-67 UNLV. Again, Faris, who was 1-of-9 in regulation, tied it up for the 12th and final time at 69.
And then the deft conductor of the night, Tony Danridge, signaled the end to the music. The senior, who saved his highest MWC point output - 26 - for Saturday, banked a short jumper which held up as the game winner.
"Just another play, man," Danridge said.
And UNLV's Lon Kruger did the only thing he could - give credit.
"He's tough," Kruger said. "And if you help too much, they got good shooters around the perimeter."
With four seconds left, Toppert converted two free throws to ice the game.
Still, it took the perfect storm for the Lobos to even get a shot at pulling out the game. Factoring out Danridge's 10-of-13 shooting performance, the rest of UNM's roster was 15-of-47. Danridge single-handedly tied the game at 41. Had it not been for Danridge's 15 points during a second-half stretch, the Lobos would've drowned in a field-goal drought.
"Theˇguyˇcan'tˇmiss," head coach Steve Alford said. "It would have been a dumb move to take him out."
Save for Danridge, no Lobo made a field goal until the 12 minute mark; Nate Garth finally got into the lane and laid one in. Garth and Toppert were the only other Lobos shooting remotely well. The two combined for 25 points. Each was 4-of-7 from the field.
"I knew Daniel and Toppert were bound for some big shots at the end," Danridge said. "I wasn't worried at all."
Those big shots came in overtime, but in regulation, Danridge was the one that forced the fifth period.
Despite a double-double, UNLV's Rene Rougeau will be remembered best for momentarily losing his composure late in the second half. Rougeau committed a foul with 4:28 left and was slapped with a technical - his fifth foul - for arguing the call. It was a four-point swing for the Lobos, who went from being down 53-52 to leading 56-53.
"That's obviously going to affect the scoreboard and the fact that Rene's out," Kruger said.
Without Rougeau, UNLV still played well enough to win and had two opportunites to end it in regulation, but a lengthy 3 by Adams clanked off the rim. The ball went to the Runnin' Rebels after it was deflected out by a UNM player with 3.4 seconds left.
But Rutledge couldn't hit a mid-range jumper.
"It's a 12-footer," Kruger deadpanned.
UNLV finished with four players in double figures, including Willis (13) and Joe Darger (10). Adams led the Rebels with 18 and had four assists. Both teams were nearly identical in stats. Both had nine turnovers apiece; the Runnin' Rebels had 12 assists to the Lobos' 10; both had five blocks; UNLV missed four of its 25 free-throw attempts; UNM bricked four of its 25; UNLV was 23-of-58 from the field, while UNM was 25-of-60.
Those two extra goals separated the winner from the loser on the scoreboard, but Danridge said nobody deserved to lose.
"(We) just hit big shots at the end," he said.
