Another impressive display by another UNM freshman.
Guard Kendall Williams shot 4-of-5 from the 3-point range and finished with 15 points to lead UNM (2-0) to a 76-62 victory over Arizona State at The Pit on Tuesday night.
“The hoop was big,” Williams said. “They showed a lot of attention to Dairese (Gary), and that helps. Maybe they didn’t scout me, but we just get to the lane a lot, and when I get the open chance to dunk it, I’ll dunk the ball.”
Williams played big time on both sides of the ball. He dropped two crowd-raising baskets with more than six minutes left in the game. Those pretty much sealed the victory. Phillip McDonald sat on the bench in street clothes for his second straight game. He will undergo an evaluation today to see if he can play Saturday against California.
In his place, Williams shined.
“With Phillip (McDonald) going out, they asked me to step into the starting spot, and I want to fill the big void that Phil left,” Williams said.
Paced by ASU guard Trent Lockett’s career-high 22 points, the Sun Devils hung around but did not provide enough support. No other ASU players reached double figures.
Nine Lobos scored in the game, three in double digits. Gary led the Lobos with 18 points. UNM shot 46 percent from the field compared to ASU’s 40 percent.
“I thought tonight was a tremendous effort and a tremendous win for our young team,” head coach Steve Alford said. “They’re growing up quick, and that’s what I need to have them do.”
Initially, things looked grim for the young Lobos. ASU jumped to a 13-7 lead, but UNM’s bench sparked a 20-0 run over a seven-minute period to turn the early deficit into a 14-point lead.
“We have a lot of new guys, and we’re still trying to find the right combinations, but I think the guys had a good night tonight,” Alford said.
Seven different Lobos scored during the big run before Lockett drew a foul and hit two free throws with 6:38 left in the first half.
“It’s definitely nice, good to have speed out there. It helps out advantage,” said Gary, who went to the bench halfway through the run.
From there, the Sun Devils played catch up the rest of the game.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Still ASU proved to a tough early-season match for UNM.
Early on, ASU didn’t allow the Lobos to pull away with the game, closing any run the home team went on. After UNM’s big first-half run, ASU went on a 9-2 run to cut the Lobos’ 14-point lead down to nine at the half.
Toward the end of the game, ASU pulled within 14, after the Lobos led by 20, their largest lead of the night.
Lockett gave the Lobos fits all night. He made his first five baskets and shot 9-of-12 from the field.
Ty Abbott, who originally signed with UNM but went to Tempe after former head coach Ritchie McKay was fired, scored eight points in 32 minutes of play.
Thirty-nine fouls were called between the two schools. ASU received a technical foul with 10 minutes left in the game.
“It’s very frustrating,” Gary said. “Some of the turnovers were a couple charges there, not even at the basket, but you can’t change what the refs call. You just have to keep playing.”
The Lobos head to Berkeley for a game against another Pac-10 school, California.
“We’ll continue to mature as a basketball team,” Alford said. “I’m really pleased with what we did tonight. We took good shots tonight. We had a higher percentage than last week, so I am happy with that.”
