The University of New Mexico Lobos men’s basketball team returned home to The Pit on Tuesday, Jan. 13 after a two game road trip in Colorado — winning both games — to face the Grand Canyon University Antelopes. Despite some jabs from GCU, they were unable to keep up with UNM and the dam broke late on route to a decisive 87-64 home victory.
The Lobos started off hot, jumping out to a 10-2 lead within the first four minutes, with Lobo guard Jake Hall scoring seven of the first 10 points. As the first half went on, GCU went on a run to cut the deficit to 24-22. The Lobos would start to get cooking again, sparked by seven points from center JT Rock in the last five minutes. Guard Uriah Tenette beat the halftime buzzer with a three pointer to give the Lobos a 38-33 lead and momentum going into the break.
Rock finished his best performance of the season so far, with a season high 13 points, three rebounds and four blocks.
“It felt great. Great home environment for us,” Rock said. “I was really happy with how we came out tonight. We really — from the jump — felt the energy in the building, fed off it, and I played pretty decent tonight.”
New Mexico got off to a rocky start to the second half as the Lopes went on a 7-2 run to tie the game at 40 apiece.
Despite tying the game early in the second half, GCU could not stop the Lobos, leaving GCU Head Coach Bryce Drew frustrated, as he was hit with a double technical with just over 10 minutes left in the game.
Every time Grand Canyon would try to cut into the deficit, the Lobos would follow with waves of scoring, including runs of 8-0 and 10-0. The Lobos never trailed in the game, while their largest lead in the would amount to 25 points with about five minutes left in the second half.
The Lobos were able to outlast the Lopes in what was a very physical match up against the 20th tallest team in the nation.
Lobo Head Coach Eric Olen was thrilled about his team’s performance in their victory.
“Good performance for us, I thought the crowd was awesome. We talked about it at halftime that this place wears people down and we just want to keep playing the game,” Olen said. “I thought (GCU) shot the ball well, made some tough shots in the first half to stay within striking distance and made a little run to start the second half. But I thought we played really well the last 16 minutes of the game.”
Now, the Lobos are ranked third in the Mountain West confereance and holdon a four game win streak heading on the road versus the second- ranked San Diego State University Aztecs in Viejas Arenaareana on Saturday, Jan. 17.
Alex Joe is a freelance videographer for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on X @DailyLobo
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