Friday’s semifinal game of the Mountain West Conference tournament between the men’s basketball team and UNLV was the perfect way to settle a score.
Each team suffered blowout road losses to one another during the regular season, but it was UNM who punched a ticket to the championship game.
The Lobos beat No. 20 UNLV 72-67 after spotting the Rebels 12 points to start the game.
“We took a great punch in the mouth to start the game and our guys just stayed poised and kept fighting,” head coach Steve Alford said.
Everything went wrong for UNM early on as it missed its first shot of the game and turned the ball over on three times that led to fast break points for UNLV.
The Rebels scored 26 points off turnovers in the game, compared to UNM’s two.
The Rebels started the game up 12-0 hitting on their first four field goals.
The lead was as high as 13, when Oscar Bellfield hit a 3-pointer to put the Rebels up 17-4 with 16:29 left in the half.
UNM punched back with a run of its own and scored 10 straight points to keep it close.
“After that initial barrage of points, we settled down and played extremely good defense,” Alford said. “ So I was very proud of how we responded to that.”
The Lobos took their first lead of the game off of two Tony Snell free throws with 1:21 left to make it 31-29.
And in similar fashion, that’s how the Lobos kept the lead.
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UNM hit 11-straight free throws in the last six and a half minutes of the game to hold the Rebels off.
“When we concentrate, we’re actually a good free throw shooting team,” Gordon said. “Demetrius (Walker) and Kendall (Williams) hit some really clutch free throws that boosted our confidence a little bit, got our confidence up on the defensive end of just getting one more stop.”
Senior forward Drew Gordon led the way for the Lobos who ended UNLV’s 18-game win streak at the Thomas and Mack Center with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Gordon shot 8-of-10 from the field.
“I think the coaches would tell you, you got somebody like that, he’s a handful,” Alford said. “We have a horse there. We just fed that horse today.”
After averaging just 5.4 points in his last five games, sophomore Tony Snell came out of his shell and scored 15 points, grabbing six rebounds and six assists.
The Lobos made half of their shots, making 26-of-52. The bench, as usual, oustcored UNLV’s bench 23-11.
UNM has made the conference title game all five times it’s been a No. 2 seed, and is 2-2 in those games so far.
“Tomorrow it’s championship time,” Gordon said. “It’s trying to boost our seeding, hopefully boost our rating as a team.”
UNM will have two opportunities to bring a title back to Albuquerque.
“We’re proud of our women, too,” Alford sad. “It’s unique. You have San Diego State and New Mexico on both sides, the men and women tomorrow. That makes it a lot of fun for those two schools.”
Just like the semifinal game, the Lobos split the season series against the Aztecs and there’s one more game to play
‘It’s a great game, great matchup,” Alford said. “They beat us at our place, we beat them at their place. Now we get a neutral floor setting for the rubber match.”
