LAS VEGAS — Take one: UNM point guard Dairese Gary takes the ball, drives the length of the court, nearly loses the ball inside the paint, regains control and misses a layup, banking it too hard off the glass.
The Lobos lose 70-69 to No. 4 San Diego State.
Except not officially. The officials reviewed the play and put .7 seconds on the board because the Lobos fouled before time expired.
Take two: A foul sends San Diego state Forward Kawhi Leonard to the line to hit two free throws, pushing the lead to 72-69. The Lobos inbound the ball to Gary in the backcourt, and he sends a 70-odd-foot shot sailing toward the basket. It dies well before it hits the rim.
No matter how many retakes the Lobos had, it always ended the same way — with the Aztecs upsetting the top-seeded Lobos in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center on Friday.
“San Diego State beat us,” head coach Steve Alford said. “We didn’t lose it ourselves. This was a hard-fought, very aggressive, physical game. We turned the ball over six times. This team has been remarkable that way. We just ran into a very good team that happened to play very well and make a little bit more shots.”
While the Aztec’s shot 51.9 percent from the field and 62.5 percent from beyond the arc, the real story of the game was the Aztec defense that held the Lobos to under 70 points, a feat opponents have managed to do only seven times this season.
All the Lobos losses have come in when they’ve scored fewer than 70 points, including a loss to the Aztecs early in conference play on Feb. 6.
SDSU’s length has been a problem for the Lobos all year, with three of the Aztecs’ starters topping out above 6-feet-7-inches.
“(We got) ousted by a team that I think is an NCAA tournament team that is very good,” Alford said. “It’s a hard matchup for us. We’ve only got two guys (A.J. Hardeman and Will Brown), there’s only one game that we’ve been able to play those two bigs together and it’s against San Diego State.”
Still, the Lobos’ resilience has allowed them to become the No. 8 team in the nation without a player taller than 6-feet-8-inches, Alford said.
“We knew that going into the year,” Alford said. “That is what’s so amazing about this team. To play 33 games and win 29 with nobody over 6-feet-8 is amazing.”
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It just caught up to them on Friday.
Nonetheless, the Lobos managed to break their streak of being knocked out of the first round. But they haven’t managed to get to the title game since 2005, the last year the Lobos won the MWC tournament.
“One of the goals was to win a conference championship, then go to the conference tournament and win,” said Gary, who had a team-high 17 points. “We let down on that one. But now our other goal was to get to the big dance. That is where we are going.”
Looking at the game from the tip, San Diego State appeared to be the team guaranteed a shot at the NCAA tournament.
The Aztecs started the game from the outside, pulling to a 14-2 lead with four 3-pointer and a dunk.
That typified the Aztec offense perfectly — 3s and paint points. The Aztecs scored 60 of their 72 points either in the paint or from the three point line. They stayed away from the mid-range shot much of the game.
When the Lobos double-teamed inside, the Aztecs shot outside. And when the outside closed, the Aztecs went in.
The Lobos struggled to find an answer for Aztec forwards Billy White (28 points), and his teammate, Kawhi Leonard (15 points). The Lobos gave the task of handling the two to Hardeman and Brown.
“We’re real athletic, so we can both hit the boars a lot,” Hardeman said. “It’s hard for that lineup to be in, because we are the only two bigs we have. Most of the time (we’re) in foul trouble.”
