Exhibition games are played to help teams get the kinks out before the regular season begins and Thursday at The Pit, the UNM men's basketball team had a lot of kinks to work out of its game.
The Lobos struggled offensively, but used hustle and defense to squeak out a 77-71 victory over the EA Sports Central All-Stars.
"I thought there was a lot of good things we did," head coach Fran Fraschilla said. "We did some things poorly, but that's mainly because we don't have very much offense in. We have about 30 percent of our offense."
The game was played at a sluggish pace for most of the night, with the Lobos playing sporadically on offense and using mostly one-on-one plays to score points.
But the best one-on-one players for the Lobos did create some offense. Junior point guard Marlon Parmer regularly slashed into the lane and recorded a double-double with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Junior guard Ruben Douglas contributed 17 points on six-for-13 shooting, including putting the final dagger in the All-Stars' back.
With the shot clock running down, the Lobos clinging to a 74-71 lead and 13 seconds left in the game, Douglas hit a long-range 3-pointer to clinche the win for the Lobos.
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"I really wasn't thinking of it as a last shot," Douglas said. "I looked up and saw the shot clock because (Senque Carey) was yelling at me 'five seconds.' I mean, the guy, he was off me and I knew I could hit that shot. I just let it fly and it went in."
The Lobos' inside game helped the guards out, with sophomore forward Patrick Dennehy chipping in with 10 points and freshman forward Jamaal Williams recording nine rebounds.
UNM dominated the boards, outrebounding the All-Stars 46-33, including 13 to six on the offensive end. However, the Lobos missed several easy putbacks to squander opportunities to get going offensively.
UNM shot 43.5 percent for the game and made only four-of-14 shots from behind the arc for 28.6 percent. The Lobos also had 16 turnovers.
With the offense still in preseason form, the Lobo defense came to play. UNM played tough half court defense, although it did give up a few easy transition baskets.
"For an exhibition game against a team with good players, I thought our defense was better than I expected it to be. We rebounded the ball well, we got a lot of people minutes. I was really encouraged by the big guys."
Nine of the 10 players that played in the game for the Lobos recorded 12 or more minutes.
The defensive play helped the Lobos build upon a 40-36 halftime lead. UNM went on a 11-0 run early in the second half to build its biggest lead of the game at 57-43 five minutes into the half and would hold that comfortable lead halfway though the period.
However, the All-Stars would not go away quietly, going on a 16-5 run to cut the lead to 69-66 with four minutes left.
The rest of the half was closely played, with the All-Stars having a chance to tie the game in the last minute, trailing 74-71. But the UNM defense came through again, with Dennehy getting a steal on an attempted alley-oop and then the Lobos forced a hurried shot on the next possession before Douglas hit his shot.
In front of a crowd of 15,157, UNM started the game with a lot of energy and intensity, but the execution on the offensive end was non-existent. The All-Stars jumped out to a 13-4 lead and held every Lobo except for Parmer scoreless for almost seven minutes. Parmer scored the first six points of the game for UNM and nine of its first 11.
During the next seven minutes, UNM created several turnovers and corralled loose balls to burst out on a 17-8 run to take a 28-23 lead. The teams exchanged baskets the rest of the half and the Lobo led 40-36 at halftime.
The All-Stars were led by forward Jimmy Carroll with 16 points and center Jonathan Kerner contributed a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
In the latest ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, UNM earned six points, which means the Lobos are ranked 45th in the national preseason poll.
The Lobos last exhibition game is Nov. 8 at home against another EA Sports team at 7 p.m.
