In their final battle as conference rivals, the Utah Utes hit the UNM men’s basketball team the hardest.
The Lobos, who were up as many as 13 points in the second half, never allowed the Utes to have the lead — at least until the final buzzer.
As the buzzer expired, Utah’s Chris Hines hit an NBA-like 3-pointer to defeat the Lobos 62-60 at The Pit.
“I knew we needed a shot up, and I had to get it off,” Hines said. “The shot felt good. There are no words to explain it. We are building and it is a good confidence booster.”
UNM head coach Steve Alford said the loss to Utah sums up the kind of season the Lobos are having.
“We’ve had good fortune the last two years of winning close games, and we just can’t win the close ones this year, and tonight was evidence of that,” he said. “We shot 35 percent in our building, so shooting continues to plague us, and we just have to find ways to improve on that.”
While the game will be remembered for many years to come, the Lobos could have closed this one out easily. But poor shooting once again afflicted UNM.
UNM shot a season-low 35 percent en route to its third straight loss.
Despite a 21-point effort from senior guard Dairese Gary and a huge double-double performance from center Drew Gordon, the Lobos couldn’t find a way to close out the Utes, even with the Utes missing puzzle pieces.
The Utes were out their two best players. Jay Watkins missed Saturday’s game because of an injury suffered earlier in the season, and Will Clyburn suffered a foot injury in Utah’s game on Wednesday. He was the team’s leading scorer with 18.3 points per game and 8.4 rebounds per contest.
Utah head coach Jim Boylen said he was thankful that the Utes escaped with the victory in their last visit to The Pit. The Utes jump ship from the MWC to the Pac-10 starting next year.
“You teach your guys in that situation to get a shot up,” Boylen said. “It was a one-point game. … You just got to get a shot up. Maybe you rebound it. Maybe you put it back in. We didn’t have a timeout because I burned them all, but I thought our guys did a heck of a job. Maybe it was a miracle shot.”
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After another loss and an emotional blow, it’s crunch time for the Lobos with four MWC games left in the season.
Alford said UNM will have to pick up the pieces from the Utah stunner and look ahead to its next opponent.
“I think it’s obvious,” Alford said. “There’s nothing to be happy about in a situation like this. We just have to find ways to pick things up and see how we can get better and ready for a team like UNLV.”
