The University of New Mexico Lobos became Mountain West regular season champions for the first time in over 10 years on Friday, March 7 in front of a sold-out crowd at The Pit. The men’s basketball team finished their final regular season game against the University of Nevada Las Vegas 81-67.
Offense was the name of the game for both teams, and when the game tipped off, neither looked back. The Lobos came in offensively, disrupting things in the paint as center Nelly Junior Joseph was unguardable down low.
Junior Joseph did it all in the paint — whether it was scoring, rebounding or defending the rim. He finished the first half with 18 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
The rest of the Lobos played around Junior Joseph, leading to offensive consistency. Defensively, the Lobos didn’t have any answers for UNLV, which responded to each UNM score with one of its own. Going into halftime, the Lobos held on to a slim 40-38 lead.
During the start of the second half, both teams continued to score at the same rate as in the first half. While Junior Joseph still dominated, the spotlight turned to guard Tru Washington, who scored 14 points in the half — 7 of which came from the free-throw line. Washington finished the game with 19 points, four rebounds and two assists.
By the time the half neared its end, the Lobos were up 64-63. From this moment onward, however, it was as if the Lobos flipped a switch. They went on a run, pulling away from UNLV, getting stops on them and building on the lead. When the clock hit zero, the Lobos walked away with the win.
Guard Donovan Dent said part of the Lobos’ success could be attributed to their defense.
“I think we have been doing this all season — we will play (a) close game but then we will go on those runs,” Dent said.
The Lobos will look to become Mountain West Tournament champions in Las Vegas March 13-15.
“(Confidence) is at an all-time high right now,” Dent said. “We are coming off a great regular season, we wanna keep it going. We are still humble, we wanna win the tournament just like we wanted to win the regular season, we just wanna keep this flow going.”
Rodney Prunty is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on X @rprunty05
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