Pit broken in with win No. 1

The test run is done.
And guess what? Thanks to a near-capacity student section, The Pit is still deafening and obnoxious to play in.
Eastern New Mexico University was the first victim Tuesday night, as the UNM men’s basketball team opened the renovated Pit by holding off a smaller, yet pesky, squad 80-58 in the first of two home exhibition games for the Lobos.

Head coach Steve Alford said the only thing he didn’t like was UNM’s free-throw shooting. The Lobos shot 44 percent from the charity stripe.
“I had to make an executive decision,” Alford said. “(Athletics Director Paul) Krebs is no longer our free-throw coach. I am going to have to take that over tomorrow morning. Other than foul shooting, I thought we did some good things. We’ve got a lot of guys playing for the first time.”

But there were some Lobo veterans playing alongside the newbies, and they helped UNM avoid a loss.
Junior forward A.J. Hardeman capped the game with 4:47 left in the second half. Freshman guard Kendall Williams drove the lane and found Hardeman open for a one-handed slam to put UNM up 75-56.

The Greyhounds cut the Lobos’ lead to three with 9:48 left in the game, but swingman Curtis Dennis hit a 3-pointer, giving the Lobos a 58-52 cushion.

With that bucket, UNM rolled to an 18-0 run over the next 3:56 and closed the game with a 25-6 scoring spree.
Dennis, who primarily comes off of the bench, lead all Lobo scorers with 17 points.

“I think I need to come off the bench and be a veteran,” he said. “I need to be a leader on and off the court, because I think that’s my role.”

In the first eight minutes of the game, the Lobos struggled shooting, and despite being down 18-8 in with 11:47 to go in the first half, UNM finally rallied over ENMU.

With 1:34 left in the opening half, freshman Alex Kirk hit a two-point field goal to give the Lobos a 32-26 lead. Kirk, in his Lobo debut, finished with eight points and six rebounds.
Admittedly, Kirk said, he was nervous early on.

“Once I got into the flow of the game, I was just focusing on things like in practice.”
Nearly a minute and a half after Kirk’s jump shot, Dennis was fouled under the Lobo basket, and his shot rolled in. He hit the free throw, and UNM ran up the tunnel with a 33-28 halftime advantage.

Tennessee transfer Emmanuel Negedu scored eight points and had three assists in his debut. Senior guard Dairese Gary had 16 points and four assists.
Alford said youth might have contributed to first-game jitters.
“There were a bucket-load of freshmen that are playing in front of a full house,” he said. “I thought they were affected by that early (crowd). In the second half, we were relaxed a little bit.”