Sports

Sports

Track and Field: UNM men and women seize MWC

Thomas Romero-Salas | March 2

The New Mexico men’s and women’s track and field teams maintained their dominance of the Mountain West Conference this weekend, sweeping the indoor conference titles for the second consecutive year. The men held off Colorado State on Saturday to win the team’s third straight MW championship. The Lobos finished with 160 points, while the Rams had 140 for second place. For the women, the road to a repeat was much easier, as they won the meet by 53 points (149- 96) over runner-up CSU. “It just means the world to all of us, especially having it at home,” junior sprinter Holly Van Grinsven said. “It just makes it so much worth it because all your family and friends came to see all the hard work you put in. That’s most rewarding because you put so much time and energy, sweat and tears into this track, and to win it on this track is an incredible feeling.”

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Sports

Relief pitchers key to team's early success

Thomas Romero-Salas | February 27

So far, preseason expectations about the New Mexico baseball team’s bullpen have been proven, and the relief pitchers a key reason why the Lobos jumped out to a 5-2 start. Through seven games this season, the Lobo relievers have only given up nine earned runs in 29 1/3 innings for an ERA of 2.79.

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Sports

Much at stake in season's final home game

Liam Cary-Eaves | February 27

There is a lot on the line in New Mexico’s final home game in addition to the home crowd submitting a goodbye to the two departing seniors on Saturday against Fresno State. In addition to the Lobos gunning for a first-round bye in the Mountain West Tournament, the Bulldogs are the only team in conference the squad has failed to beat this season. UNM also has an opportunity to finish first in conference if Colorado State (21-6, 13-3 Mountain West) does not win out.

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Sports

Lobos outshot by Boise State; Fresno State up next

Kyle Tomasi | February 27

For the first time this season it wasn’t the offense that brought New Mexico down. The defense did. UNM dropped its seventh straight game after losing to a streaking Boise State team 75-65 in Boise, Idaho, where the Lobos’ inability to get stops was the team’s Achilles’ heel.

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Sports

Women's basketball: Lobos exact revenge on Boise State

Liam Cary-Eaves | February 26

New Mexico drifted away from its interior game, but reawakened its identity in a 63-50 victory over Boise State on Wednesday night at WisePies Arena. Going into the game, the Lobos were ranked second-worst in 3-point shooting percentage. However, the Lobos continued to shoot the deep ball despite the team’s low success rate in shots behind the arc. UNM went 3-10 from 3-point range in the first half. “Sometimes there’s a reason you’re open,” head coach Yvonne Sanchez said. “We were beating them a lot inside a lot in the first half ... I told them we don’t need to take a lot or settle for jump shots.”

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Sports

Track and Field: Men's, Women's teamd aim to defend champion titles

C. Jake Swanitz | February 26

The New Mexico men’s and women’s track and field teams will look to defend their Mountain West Championships starting today at the Albuquerque Convention Center. Last season’s conference sweep at the indoor conference championships was the first in UNM history. This year, the Lobos will have the luxury of another home meet to defend its titles. For the men’s team, it will be a chance to make it three consecutive titles, following a winning performance at the 2013 championship in Boise, Idaho.

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Sports

Greenwood: Lobos need more practice

Kyle Tomasi | February 24

New Mexico senior guard Hugh Greenwood has been the cornerstone for UNM’s success as of late and feels that the young, struggling Lobos might need to put in a little more work than they have been. The Lobos start one freshman, Sam Logwood, and play five other players with no Division I experience, and Greenwood thinks the team could put some more time in the gym before and after practices.

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Sports

Men's baseball: Lobos carry blustery day

Thomas Romero-Salas | February 23

It wasn’t the prettiest baseball at Lobo Field on Sunday. In part due to blustery conditions, New Mexico and Air Force combined to make nine errors — six of which belonged to the Falcons — in the Lobos’ 15-5 victory. Air Force committed five errors in the first three innings to help UNM build a 9-3 lead. The Lobos stayed disciplined at the plate, drawing six walks over that same time frame. As a team, the Falcons combined for 12 walks.

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Sports

Men's basketball: Uphill battle proves too difficult for UNM

Kyle Tomasi | February 23

Maybe it was the pressure of the inaugural Pink Pack game. Maybe it was because the Lobos were staring at a potential six-game losing streak for the first time since the 1970-1971 season. Whatever the reason, New Mexico continued its vapid play in a 76-68 loss to the UNLV Rebels on Saturday. UNM dropped its sixth game in a row and has lost seven of its last eight overall. In the midst of one of the worst seasons in recent memory, head coach Craig Neal said the team has not shown eagerness to get back to the team’s winning ways. “It just seems like when it goes downhill, there’s no pushback,” Neal said. “There’s no fight to get back.”

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Sports

Women's basketball: Lobos give Rebels a run for their money

Liam Cary-Eaves | February 23

Sound interior play from UNLV and UNM’s inability to keep the Rebels off the line shattered New Mexico’s eight-game win streak with a 79-73 loss to UNLV on Saturday. Head coach Yvonne Sanchez said the Rebels took advantage of sophomore Kianna Keller’s and junior Khadijah Shumpert’s trouble with steering clear of personal fouls. Despite the fouls from the Lobo forwards, UNM was not content with walking away from the 1,311 fans at Cox Pavilion without a fight. “Their bigs kind of took it to us when we got in foul trouble,” Sanchez said in a statement. “UNLV is playing really good basketball. We had to fight back on the road and it just didn’t work out for us. We had an opportunity.”

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Sports

Baseball: 'Road' game to be held in Albuquerque

Thomas Romero-Salas | February 20

Lobo Field will be the site for the New Mexico baseball team’s first road series of the season. No, that’s not a typo. Because of inclement weather in Colorado Springs, Air Force was unable to host UNM and will instead come to Albuquerque for a three-game Mountain West series that begins today. However, the Falcons will still be designated as the home team this weekend.

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Sports

Men's basketball: Team stays positive despite losing streak

Kyle Tomasi | February 20

The losses keep piling up for the New Mexico men’s basketball team, and head coach Craig Neal continues to point to the team’s youth as the cause. Neal said that he is trying to stay as positive as he can with his young and inexperienced team, using the losses as motivation to get better. “I’ve been sending the message out to the guys to be real positive,” Neal said. “We need to get back to doing the little things, trying to stay within the culture that we’ve built. I know we’ve been struggling and just trying to do the little things to get back on the winning way.”

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Sports

Women's basketball: UNM hoping for 9th straight victory

Liam Cary-Eaves | February 20

New Mexico will gear up for a showdown as the team heads into Las Vegas to take on the UNLV Rebels Saturday. The last time the two squads faced off, the Lobos squeaked by the Rebels 63-60. That game, on Jan. 21, UNM forced the win with its deep bench as three starters and a key bench player had early exits. The game required junior forward Alexa Chavez and junior guard Bryce Owens to be assisted off the court with injuries. Owens would later return in the contest to accumulate the team-high 15 points, but Chavez’s late injury sidelined her for the rest of the game.

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Sports

Women's basketball: Lobos continue winning streak at SDSU

Staff Report | February 19

A second half surge against San Diego State preserved New Mexico’s eight-game winning streak during Wednesday night’s 63-47 victory. UNM came out sluggish offensively against the Aztecs, shooting just 9-27 from the field at the Viejas Arena. However, head coach Yvonne Sanchez’s second half adjustments sparked rhythm on the offensive side of the ball. Senior guard Antiesha Brown proved to be a big part of the Lobos’ first half problems. UNM’s leading scorer was unable to put anything together, going 0-2 from the field in the first 20 minutes of play.

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Sports

Lobos offense sputters versus SDSU

Kyle Tomasi | February 18

A stagnant offense is not the best way to defeat the third best defense in the country. Running into the streaking first place San Diego State University Aztecs wasn’t necessarily the best situation for New Mexico, either. UNM suffered its fifth straight loss after a 63-46 thrashing by SDSU. The Lobos have now dropped six of their last eight games of the season. It’s the first time since 2007 that the Lobos have lost five consecutive games.

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Sports

Road stretch this week for Lobo women

Liam Cary-Eaves | February 18

In the final stretch of the season, New Mexico will face a demanding road test against teams trying to knock the Lobos down from the number one spot in the Mountain West. UNM will face off against the San Diego State Aztecs and will immediately forge ahead to UNLV (10-13, 7-5 Mountain West) on Saturday without coming back to Albuquerque in between.

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Sports

UNM football team brings low ticket revenue

Liam Cary-Eaves | February 18

For the past few years, the New Mexico football program has not been a main attraction for New Mexico Athletics. In fact, the 2014 season generated the second-lowest ticket revenue in seven years. The lowest ticket revenue was the 2011 season in which head coach Mike Locksley was fired from the University following his troublesome tenure with UNM.

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Sports

Men's basketball: Lobos to face tough Aztecs sans Goodman

Kyle Tomasi | February 17

Today the New Mexico men’s basketball team will have to overcome something that its seen a lot of this season: adversity. The Lobos are coming off of a tough four-game losing streak to Mountain West Conference foes and the road doesn’t get any easier when they host first-place San Diego State at WisePies Arena. “Usually we are competing with them for championships but maybe we can play spoiler a little bit on the run to the championship,” head coach Craig Neal said. “It’s going to be a big game. They’re very talented. Coach (Steve) Fisher has done a great job, he’s had a great run this year.”

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Sports

Sports briefs for Feb. 16, 2014

Thomas Romero-Salas | February 16

UNM rallied back from a 2-0 deficit against Oregon State for a 7-4 victory in the Surprise Tournament on Sunday. The Lobos (2-1) scored their seven runs across the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Freshman Carl Stajduhar hit a two-run home run in the sixth to gain a 3-2 lead. Stajduhar went 2-5 on the night. Freshman pitcher Luis Gonzalez tossed 4.1 innings of no-hit relief for the win. Junior starter Drew Bridges threw just three innings and allowed two runs.

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Sports

Track and field: Lobos make strong showing ahead of MW

Staff Report | February 16

The New Mexico men’s and women’s track and field teams combined to break or tie six school records this weekend at the Don Kirby Invitational. Junior sprinter Ridge Jones broke the school records in both the 60- and 200-meter sprints. He clocked in at an altitude-adjusted 21.43 in the 200, breaking Larry Davis’ 14-year-old record of 21.44, to take seventh in the field. Jones also created a new 60-meter record with a time of 6.65, which earned him second place in the race. The junior had tied former Lobo and current USC Trojan Beejay Lee earlier this year with a time of 6.69.