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Lobo Jordan Hunter squeezes himself in between a referee and Lobo coach Craig Neal during Saturday nights game against SDSU. 

Lobo Jordan Hunter squeezes himself in between a referee and Lobo coach Craig Neal during Saturday nights game against SDSU. 

Men's Basketball: Victory over San Diego State sends Lobos to Mountain West quarterfinals

After a 64-59 win over San Diego State on Saturday night, the Lobos earned themselves a ticket straight to the Thursday quarterfinals for next week’s Mountain West Tournament.

“Really proud of their effort, really proud of how hard they played tonight,” said head coach Craig Neal. “This might have been the best performance they had at home. We had great fans tonight (13,958). They brought a lot of energy for us.”

By taking down the Aztecs, the Lobos finished as one of the top five teams in the conference, and will therefore not have to play on Wednesday. Their overall record stands at 17-13 while they are 10-8 in the conference. They are playing Fresno State next Thursday at 2:30pm MT.

The Aztecs finished the regular season at 17-13, 9-9 MW and will have to play next Wednesday against UNLV for the first round.

San Diego State got on the board first after collecting one point from the free throw line. Senior center Obij Aget retaliated by getting on the line and making both of his shots.

By the first timeout of the night at 15:23, the Lobos held a 6-3 lead over SDSU. All six points for New Mexico came from Aget.

However, the Lobos were stuck at six points for a while, until Sam Logwood came in with a layup at 10:14. By that time, the Aztecs were up 10-8.

The Aztecs were slow to find the basket from the field, until Jeremy Hemsley had a layup at the 13:03 mark.

These were just a few examples of the offensive difficulties that each side saw. They both had field goal percentages below 30 percent. SDSU hit 24 percent of its shots while New Mexico sat at 28.6 percent.

At 11:35 SDSU took a 7-6 lead and remained on top for a while.

This was senior forward Tim Williams’ first game back after sitting out for a stress reaction on his foot. He was a starter but it took a while to warm up.

Williams got his first two points at the 2:34 mark. He scored another layup at 1:44, making it a two point game at 22-20 with the Aztecs still leading.

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A minute later, junior guard Elijah Brown tied the game at 22-22. Both teams tried hard to finish the half on top, but in the end it was New Mexico who finished with a one-point lead at 25-24.

The second period began with a lot more energy.

By the first timeout, the Lobos had found some momentum and were up 32-26. Their defense proved to be strong as they kept the Aztecs from making fast progress. SDSU got a layup from Jeremy Hemsley at 18:52 but didn’t score again until the 15:48 mark. His team was then stuck again at 28 until the clock read 12:42.

New Mexico controlled this half and led by as many as 15 points on two occasions.

“I was really fired up because I thought they really answered the bell,” Neal said when commenting about the change in his team after halftime. “They really answered. They could’ve given in, we were down four. Then we made a late push there and took a one point lead in the half.”

Brown, who had only scored nine points in the first half of the night, added 20 points in the second period. His 29 total points came from a 6-for-19 shooting, but also a 15-for-17 from the free throw line.

The two Lobo seniors, Williams and Aget, also saw double figures, finishing the night with 10 points apiece.

Neal said he was proud of what he saw from his entire team on Saturday, but also that the night was a little emotional.

“This was a bittersweet win,” the coach said. “It’s difficult to see these guys go. But we have a lot of basketball left.”

Neal said he would give his team a little bit of time to enjoy their victory, but that they will soon have to get their focus back on next week’s tournament in Las Vegas.

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.

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