In the course of seven minutes, the UNM men’s basketball team turned a close game into a closed game.
A 21-6 run to finish the first half helped the Lobos finish Colorado State 82-64 and improve to 18-3 overall and 4-2 in the Mountain West Conference.
“We just had a lot of energy,” said point guard Dairese Gary. “Coach talked about coming out and seeing who wanted it more. They were a tough team to play against. They weren’t just going to let down because they were coming to The Pit.”
Thirteen minutes in, Colorado State (11-8, 2-3 MWC) looked like a team that could hand the Lobos their fourth loss, or, at least, give UNM a test.
It didn’t help that the Lobos started off the night cold.
UNM shot 32 percent from the field, while Colorado State hovered near 50 percent inside the first 13 minutes. Yet, nine Ram turnovers and six UNM offensive rebounds allowed the UNM to hang around.
Tied at 18, the Lobos got 10 more shots than the Rams did in the first 13 minutes, which made up for their poor shooting.
That was all before the Lobos made their run and the Rams lost their feet.
Over the next seven minutes in the first half, the Lobos sunk 6-of-11 shots, while CSU converted only 1-of-8, propelling the Lobos to a 15-point lead. Both teams were deadlocked seven minutes earlier.
For the second game in a row, Phillip McDonald’s 3-point shooting led the way. McDonald, who went 7-of-10 from long range last Wednesday at Air Force, hit a pair in the first half, one coming with five seconds left in the first half.
McDonald lined up from the top of the key, pump-faked a defender, dribbled to the side and lofted a 3, giving UNM a 38-24 halftime advantage.
The Rams needed a run of their own to start the second half.
But it didn’t happen.
The Lobos slowly built their lead, taking their largest advantage, 22, with 7:49 left in the second half. That advantage came while the three starting upperclassmen rested.
Darington Hobson, Roman Martinez and Gary — who scored a combined 39 points — watched as freshmen and sophomores mounted the largest lead of the night. The Lobo bench contributed 23 points to the final score.
“Our bench came out and played hard,” Gary said. “They gave us good production. When they come in and do the things they did, it is always a good outcome.”
Both teams were almost identical in the second half. But one statistic stood out —free throws. The Rams committed 29 fouls, giving the Lobos 27 free throws. UNM converted 20 compared to the Rams’ 14.
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Rams’ head coach Tim Miles said committing fouls is one of the things the Rams have perfected this season.
“We like to foul. We are good at fouling,” Miles said with a grin. “That is what we do. We missed jumpers. We are good at that, too. There is a lot of things we are good at. We missed three layups the first half. We have a lot of parts of the game that you really don’t want to master, mastered.
I don’t know. I have to look in the mirror and find out what the hell I am doing in practice.”
Many of those fouls came in the last five minutes.
As the Lobos’ bench cleared with the game all but settled, CSU employed full-court pressure.
Though ineffective, the Rams stayed with it. They caused one turnover and four fouls in the press, allowing Gary to score eight points from the line in the final minutes. He also had his first dunk of the season with 20 seconds left.
“Dairese has always told me he’s got bunnies,” UNM head coach Steve Alford said. “I had to give him credit. That was a good dunk. He threw it hard. He got up there. I got to give him credit. He’s got some bunnies.”
