On a night of lasts, the possibility of a first was born.
For the first time ever, the UNM men's basketball team will have at least a share of the Mountain West Conference regular-season title. The Lobos have never won a MWC regular-season title, but they captured one in the WAC in 1994.
A sell-out crowd of 18,018 watched the Lobos seal a 77-71 victory for the last time, putting them in a three-way tie for first alongside the Utes and BYU.
Because of renovations, The Pit's mezzanine level will be closed off next year, reducing University Arena's seating to about 15,700.
In the final home game for Tony Danridge, Daniel Faris and Chad Toppert, the Lobos rode the seniors for 57 of the Lobos' 77 points. Danridge poured in a career-high 29 points, while Faris had 16 and Toppert finished with 12.
The Lobos took a bounding leap forward in their Mountain West quest for the regular-season title. To win it outright, UNM will need to win its season-closer at Wyoming and hope the Utes and BYU lose one more time, but UNM is at least guaranteed a share.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"All three (seniors) had great games. And it's not easy," head coach Steve Alford said. "We brought them in before pre-game meal, and I told them, 'Regardless of what happens today, you've been very special to this program.' Not a lot of people get to play in front of 18,000 in their last game."
With the win, Alford passed Norm Ellenberger for most wins by a UNM coach in his first two seasons. Ellenberger compiled 43 wins in his first two campaigns, but Alford one-upped him, collecting his 44th on Tuesday.
In the last six games between the Utes and Lobos, the contests have been decided by a combined 20 points, and that has required overtimes in four matches.
From the get-go, UNM and Utah seemed poised to make that a fifth time. But foul trouble for Luke Nevill and a gutsy win-or-go-home attitude from the Lobos scuttled the Utes.
Seconds before the half, Toppert pump-faked and sidestepped his defender only to have his 3-pointer rim out. However Faris, like he did against the Rams in the Lobos' double-overtime thriller, put back Toppert's miss before the horn sounded, giving the Lobos a 36-34 advantage. And the Lobos vise-gripped the lead for the remainder of the game. Utah came within one twice but could never jostle the lead away from UNM.
With scouts from Golden State and Charlotte in the building to see Nevill, Danridge made the lumbering Aussie seem like a backdrop to his show - and possibly wrestled the Mountain West MVP award away from the 7-feet-2-inch senior.
At the conclusion of the game, Danridge wrapped his outstreched arms around his parents and was presented with a bouquet of flowers, as were Faris and Toppert.
"I just want to thank God," Danridge said.
On several occasions, Danridge slashed through the lane, at one point spinning around, hitting a fadeaway jumper and drawing the foul. The senior converted the free throw to put the Lobos up 55-47 with 10:35 left in the second half.
Less than a minute later, Nevill picked up his fourth foul when he hooked Toppert with 9:25 left. The center was constantly hounded with pressure, especially by Faris, who limited him to 16 points and just five rebounds.
Offensively, Faris contributed to a 22-10 run when he got the Aussie in the air, double clutched and banked home a hook shot to give the Lobos a 59-47 advantage. Another turn-around jumper by Danridge over Lawrence Borha gave UNM its largest lead at 60-47 with 8:05 to go in the game. From there, the Utes got no closer than five. But it was Nevill's departure with 3:51 left in the game that spelled the end for Utah.
After burrowing through Faris and being slapped with his fifth foul, Nevill strolled up to the official and handed him the ball before harping about the call to no avail. The crowd went bonkers. It was Nevill's first foul-out of the season.
"I was just relieved," Faris said. "I was tired of getting elbowed in the face. My body hurts already. Just glad to get a few minutes of not having to lean on that big body."
Toppert commended Faris' defensive effort on Nevill.
"That was a great player, and Daniel dominated inside," he said. "He hasn't given up anything. Daniel just worked really hard. He just does so much for us."
Tyler Kepkay hit a left-handed layup, got the foul and made the freebie to cut the Lobos' lead to 66-61 with 2:01. He finished with 20 points.
But that was as close as the Utes would draw.
While it was the seniors' night to shine, junior Roman Martinez made quite possibly the biggest play of the game. At the 1:45 mark, Martinez was left open for 3. He squared and missed, but then hustled, secured the rebound and got the easy putback. Martinez finished with 13 points.
"Unbelievable," Alford said. "That's who Ro is. Those things don't show up in the stats. Ro is a catalyst."
And the closer.
"We came down here to win. We didn't win," Utes' head coach Jim Boylen said. "They have a very good basketball team. I'm sure they're going to win some more games."
Hustle and emotion was crammed into The Pit. As well a collection of egos.
At the first media timeout of the second half, Boylen walked out to midcourt to voice his discontent with the officiating. Alford, feeling Boylen had overstepped the midcourt boundary, yelled at the Utes' coach to get back. Boylen pointed at Alford and the two coaches exchanged some kind words before members of the UNM coaching staff restrained Alford.
"He thinks I'm out on the floor; I think he's out on the floor. He thinks I'm nuts; I think he's nuts," Alford said about the spat. "I told my boss, that's how the Pittsburgh Steelers do it. Jimmy's from the Big 10; I'm from the Big 10. We've had great wars when it was Michigan State-Iowa, and now we've brought that flavor to the Mountain West."
