The UNM men’s basketball team grabbed an 81-70 victory over Boise State on the road at the Taco Bell Arena, taking “Taco Tuesday” to a whole new level in handing the Broncos their first home loss of the season.
The Lobos have posted back-to-back wins, both of which came on the road in tough venues. They improved their record to 11-8 overall and 4-3 in the Mountain West conference.
“I am proud of these guys,” head coach Craig Neal said in a release. “They have been through a lot the last two weeks, but it has made us stronger as a group.”
New Mexico led the game wire-to-wire, with senior center Obij Aget putting up the first points of the game from the free throw line.
Dane Kuiper made a steal, which led to a Jalen Harris dunk. Junior forward Elijah Brown ripped the net on a 3-point basket and the Lobos were up 7-0 just over a minute in the game at the 18:51 mark.
The Lobos’ explosive energy continued throughout the first half, shooting light out from the field. The team posted a 65.5 field goal percentage and went 5-of-7 (71.4 percent) from the 3-point line.
The Lobos led by as many as 20 points and took a 49-31 halftime advantage into the locker room.
“They were a special group in the first half,” Neal said.
But fans found out earlier this season that no lead is safe, as UNM blew a 25-point lead at home. And as things tightened up in the second half, many may have wondered if history was about to repeat itself.
“We got off to a slow start in the second half, but we settled in and got stops,” Neal said.
Senior forward Tim Williams completed a three-point play after getting fouled in the post to put his squad up 52-33 with 18:02 remaining. But the Lobos didn’t score from the field again for over nine minutes.
The Broncos had closed the gap to within five, but UNM got a much-needed 3-pointer from Elijah Brown to create some separation.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Boise State made another run to pull within two points at 64-62, following a Sam Logwood turnover that led to a layup.
The Lobo guard/forward had been struggling to find his shot for much of the season, but Logwood responded in a big way. He dropped in a turnaround hook shot from the baseline to put the team back up by four.
He made another critical shot a few minutes later, hitting a jumper to put New Mexico up 72-65 with 3:03 to play.
Logwood finished with 16 points in just nine minutes played to provide a big lift for UNM. He seemed to gain confidence as the game progressed, sinking 6-of-7 from the field.
Brown also scored 16 for the Lobos in the game, but Williams led all scorers with 19. Jordan Hunter seemed to be back at full strength after recovering from an ankle injury a few weeks ago, putting up 11 points.
The final statistics reflected how good of a night New Mexico had. The team shot 50 percent from the field, 50 percent from beyond the arc and 95.5 percent from the free thrown line.
Boise State did not have a good shooting night, making just 37.9 percent of its shots. A team that normally prides itself on 3-point shooting went 21.7 percent from beyond the arc, though BSU did make over 80 percent of its foul shots to pick up 21 points from the charity stripe.
The Broncos had five players in double figures: James Reid (16), Chandler Hutchison (14), Nick Duncan (12), Paris Austin (12) and Zach Haney (10).
With the victory, the Lobos became the first team in Mountain West history to take down San Diego State, Colorado State and Boise State on the road in a single season.
The team will be back in Albuquerque to host the Wyoming Cowboys on Saturday at 6 p.m.
Isabel Gonzalez is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. She mainly covers men’s soccer and basketball. She can be reached at sports @dailylobo.com or on Twitter @cisabelg.
