Men's Basketball: UNM dealt first conference loss at Utah State

Some say good things come in threes—but three was not a lucky number for the Lobo men’s basketball Wednesday night.

New Mexico shot over five percentage points better than its opponent from the floor, but 3-pointers and limited or no playing time to three key players cost the team what would’ve been its third straight conference win. Instead, the cherry and silver fell 79-75 to the Utah State.

"This is only our first loss," UNM head coach Craig Neal said in a release. "It's a long conference season and hopefully we can have everyone back. We just have to play a little smarter and a little more mature. It was a perfect opportunity for us to come in here and get a win...but we didn't take advantage of that."

New Mexico fell to 9-6 overall and 2-1 in conference, while Utah State picked up its first conference win to improve to 1-2 in Mountain West play and 7-7 overall.

The teams traded buckets with each other and kept the score close for most of the game, but the 3-point statistics were far from even as Utah State finished strong from outside.

Utah State senior wing player Jaylen Moore opened the first half shooting 4-of-5 from deep to score 14 points, keeping the Aggies within one point at the half 38-37.

Twitter user @Lobo Lane apparently noticed the trend and cleverly tweeted the pun, “No Moore threes please” during the game.

Moore abstained, but his Aggie teammates continued to burn the Lobos with long-range shooting.

Utah State usually shoots around 35 percent from the arc, but on Wednesday the team shot at 45.4 percent, successfully making 10 of the attempts. The Lobos shot at 33.3 percent, making only four of their attempts.

Moore and UNM senior forward Tim Williams put on a scoring exhibition in the first half. Williams tallied 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting in the first half, scoring the final points at the free throw line to give the Lobos a 38-37 lead at the break.

Junior guard Elijah Brown managed to score 17 points in just 15 minutes for the game. But with Brown plagued by foul trouble, it was Williams who stepped up to lead the Lobos with a game-high 30 points.

Head coach Craig Neal described Williams’ effort as “terrific.”

“He just did everything we asked him to do,” Neal said. “You have to give credit to (the Aggies), they played really well. You can't allow a team that is scrapping and clawing for their first win to score 79 points.”

The Lobos were already down a man to start the game. Sophomore guard Jordan Hunter did not play due to an ankle injury, one that could potentially keep him out of the next game as well.

New Mexico also lost Xavier Adams in the latter stages of the first half when his right knee appeared to buckle when he landed. The injury not only ended Adams’ night, but also put an end to his season as Neal later announced the damage was torn ACL.

In the second half, Brown picked up two fouls over an 11-second span in the first minute and a half, relegating the guard to pine once again. Despite his absence, the Lobos appeared to be in good shape through the midway point.

The teams traded leads a couple of times, but Williams scored in the paint with 9:36 left in the game to put the Lobos on top 56-53.

But Utah State responded with a 10-1 run to reclaim a lead it would never give up. After hitting a pair of free throws, Koby McEwen stuck a 3-pointer off a Jalen Harris turnover to put the Aggies up 59-56.

A few possessions later, it collected two offensive rebounds and Utah State’s Quinn Taylor scored to go ahead 63-57 at the 6:52 mark.

Trailing by six, the Lobos appeared to be back in it when Dane Kuiper drove to the hoop and finished after drawing a blocking foul in a close block/charge scenario. But it was Kuiper who was whistled for a charge, waving off the potential three-point play with 4:18 remaining.

The Lobos went down by as many as 10, but fought hard until the very end. In the waning seconds, Kuiper connected on a 3-pointer, followed by another from Brown.

But their efforts were not enough and the team walked away with its first loss in conference play.

Utah State was led by Moore’s 20 point effort and saw two other Aggies put up double-digit points. McEwen scored 18 and Sam Merrill finished with 13. It was the sixth straight game McEwen, a freshman, scored in double figures.

The Lobos will hope to rebound when they return to WisePies Arena to host the Nevada Wolf Pack (13-3, 2-1 MW) on Saturday night. The match is scheduled to start at 9:15 p.m. and will be available on ESPN2.

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.