After Wednesday’s Mountain West opener, New Mexico guard Hugh Greenwood mentioned a “plus-one, minus-one” ratio system to help gauge conference play. Home games are neutral, he said. Home losses get minus one; road wins get plus one.
A solid effort ensured the Lobos kept that ratio neutral after one game.
Nine days removed from a disappointing nonconference finale loss at Grand Canyon, UNM used a 12-0 run in the second half to break away from Fresno State. The rally led to a 76-64 Lobo win at WisePies Arena.
“With conference, it’s all about protecting home and I thought we did a really good job of doing that tonight,” Greenwood said
Greenwood, who led UNM with 16 points, five rebounds and five assists, hit back-to-back 3-pointers and extended a three-point Lobo lead to a 47-41 margin. Guard Deshawn Delaney followed up Greenwood’s two triples with another field goal from long range, and free throws from Xavier Adams and J.J. N’Ganga gave the Lobos a 12-point edge.
The new-look Lobos found offensive productions from its new faces early on. Devon Williams, Obij Aget, Xavier Adams, and Joe Furstinger netted 25 of the Lobos’ first 30 points. Williams and Aget saw limited minutes a year ago, while Adams, Furstinger and Logwood came in this season as a freshman.
“I’m really happy for those guys because our program’s been development,” head coach Craig Neal said. “We’re going to make guys better and we’re going to show them how to get better.”
Delaney and Williams also reached double figures for UNM with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
UNM also shot well from the floor, connecting on 59 percent of its attempts (23 of 39). The Lobos were even better from beyond the arc, draining eight of its 10 3-point attempts for an 80 percent clip.
“When we got stops, we were able to push and a lot of that stuff came in transition, guys making plays,” Greenwood said. “We’re not really concerned about shot selection as much recently. Everything feels good and fortunately it went down tonight.”
A regular starter, Delaney netted 12 points playing off the bench for disciplinary reasons. Neal punished Delaney and transfer Jordan Goodman for violation of team rules. The coach would not specify the violation.
Walk-on Tim Jacobs started in Delaney’s place and scored eight points, including five off foul shots.
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Neal said Delaney’s and Goodman‘s discipline will not go beyond Wednesday’s game.
“It’s nobody’s business to know what those (violations) are. That’s just the way I’ll leave it. It’s a coach’s decision,” Neal said.
Marvelle Harris led all scorers with 19 points despite the Lobos holding the Fresno State guard scoreless for 14 minutes.
The Lobos carried a 36-29 advantage into the halftime break, but Fresno State dictated a slower pace early in the second half to trim the deficit to 41-38.
After its big 12-0 run, UNM maintained a rather comfortable lead before Fresno State turned the game into a free-throw contest with three minutes remaining. The Bulldogs sent the Lobos to the line eight times over the final 3:08, where UNM converted 11 of 16 foul shots. Overall, UNM shot 22 of 33 on free throws (66 percent).
Fresno State was 22 of 57 from the field (38.6 percent), 9 of 26 from the 3-point line (34.6 percent) and 11 of 13 from the foul line (84.6 percent). Behind Harris, three other Bulldogs reached double figures – Julien Lewis with 14, Paul Watson with 12 and Karachi Edo with 11.
The Lobos, the only Mountain West team to open conference play with two home games, hosts Colorado State on Saturday.
J.R. Oppenheim is the managing editor for the Daily Lobo. Contact him at managingeditor@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @JROppenheim.
