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Though the No. 19 New Mexico men went to South Carolina with hopes of winning the Charleston Classic, coach Craig Neal’s aim was focused heavily on the team’s improvement.
He said the team did that on Sunday, bouncing back from Friday’s loss to Massachusetts to take third place.
Four Lobo players hit double-digit scores en route to a 79-58 win over Davidson on the tournament’s final day. UNM dropped into the third-place game following Friday’s 81-65 loss to UMass, its first loss of the season.
“One thing I told them before we went out: ‘I just want us to get better today,’” Neal said. “I want my team to get better. I want our team to get better. We’re in this together. I thought we did.”
UNM’s front-court powerhouses — senior forward Cameron Bairstow and redshirt junior center Alex Kirk — combined for 38 points against Davidson and have emerged as UNM’s leading scorers through the season’s early stages. Bairstow led all scorers Sunday with 18 points, while Kirk added 16.
In five games, Kirk has averaged 20.8 points while Bairstow had 19.6. UNM senior guard Kendall Willams trails closely at 18.2 points per game after scoring 12 on Sunday. Kirk has also pulled down 12.2 rebounds per game, including 14 against the Wildcats.
Davidson played without its key big man, 6-foot-7 forward De’Mon Brooks, who was injured. As a result, the Lobos doubled Davidson up on points in the paint with a 32-16 advantage.
“We knew (Brooks was injured) because we saw him walking around with crutches,” Bairstow said. “We went into the game thinking he was going to play, just in case, and then adjusted when he wasn’t.”
UNM never trailed, but Davidson remained close through most of the first half. The Lobos charged forward with a 12-4 run over the last six minutes of the first half and held a 39-29 lead at the break. UNM ran for another 12-4 spurt to start the second half.
Freshman guard Cullen Neal bounced back after two sluggish games earlier in the tournament. After scoring four against Alabama-Birmingham and three against UMass, the freshman netted 15 points in 14 minutes of play, completing six of nine shots from the field.
The Lobos finished 48.3 percent on field goals (28 of 58), 38.9 percent from the 3-point line (7 of 18) and 16 of 19 from the free-throw line. Davidson, meanwhile, shot 35.6 percent from the field (21 of 59), 8 of 29 from the foul stripe and 47.1 percent from beyond the arc (8 of 17).
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The game served as a reunion for Kirk and Davidson coach Bob McKillop, who coached UNM’s 7-footer on the American roster at the World University Games this summer. Kirk joked after the game that the experience helped him learn McKillop’s system, but he also praised the coach.
“I learned a lot from him this summer and I had a great experience playing for him,” Kirk said.
