In what was the game of the year for the UNM men's basketball team, senior Tony Danridge ended his Pit career on top. The senior finished the night with a career-high 29 points.
"(It's) just a great way to go out," Danridge said.
Danridge capped his scoring at the Pit with a final free throw with 6.6 seconds remaining in the UNM men's basketball team's 77-71 victory over Utah.
The Utes visited University Arena as the No. 1 team in the Mountain West Conference. And they caught UNM on senior night.
Danridge helped the senior class to a six-point victory over Utah and locked both schools in a first-place tie with BYU.
The tie couldn't come at a wilder time. All three teams have one game remaining on the conference schedule.
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Danridge's courageous performance was one for the history books. And his blood-stained shorts will be a memorable token, Danridge said.
Halfway through the second half, Danridge was running up the court after a Utah turnover, but he was tripped by a referee in front of the Lobo bench.
It left the left side of his basketball shorts spattered with blood.
"Well, when I ate dust after the ref tripped me, I guess I had a little cut and I didn't see it," he said. "That is what coach says: just grind it out and just be tough," Danridge said. "You can't ask for a sub when you are bleeding and just play through it."
The high-flying senior will probably be best known as one of the most prolific dunkers in UNM history.
His most notable dunk came in a game at Kansas State in 2005. It earned Danridge a slot on ESPN's Play of the Day.
Danridge could also score.
He has averaged more points per game each season and expanded his leadership every year since joining the Lobos.
"I have been saying that since the beginning," Daniel Faris said. "Tony is the player of the year. He is one of the best players in the conference, if not the nation. No one can match his athleticism and strength for a guy coming off an injury like that."
Danridge was sidelined for the 2007-08 campaign with a broken leg he suffered on Oct. 4, 2007.
In his last six games prior to the Utah battle, Danridge averaged 18.8 points per game, and the Lobos went 5-1 in that stretch.
"It is just good passes from my teammates and screens. I was wide open half the time," Danridge said.
Danridge will surely be a finalist for MWC Player of the Year, but he has already earned that honor among his teammates and coaches.
"I am biased, but Tony gets our vote," head coach Steve Alford said. "I think Tony has been tremendous. You look at his numbers and Tony has put up MVP numbers in this league. If the MVP goes to the league winner, we got to wait four days and see just who that is going to be."
