A superior inside game and a stingy defensive effort helped the UNM men's basketball team run away with an easy 87-55 victory against Alcorn State University Saturday at The Pit.
The Lobos (3-3) outrebounded Alcorn State 54 to 28 and held them to 35.6 percent shooting to smother the undermanned and undersized Braves (1-3), a team the Lobos have now beaten three straight years by double-digits.
UNM rebounded, literally, after suffering two straight losses to gain some confidence.
"These kind of games are called confidence builders," junior guard Marlon Parmer said. "Everybody is happy and everyone is on the same page. I just felt like I was tired of losing."
The Lobos had three players in double figures and all 13 players earned playing time in the win.
Sophomore forward Patrick Dennehy controlled the paint with a career-high 17 rebounds and chipped in 10 points. Senior guard Eric Chatfield, back in the starting line-up after coming off the bench last game, scored 12 points on five-of-nine shooting and three steals.
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Parmer slashed to the hole for a game-high 23 points and corralled eight rebounds to go with his five assists.
"Basically I just tried to come out with a mindset, just try to be offensive minded, try to get everyone involved," Parmer said. "If things weren't clicking I already had my mind made up that I was going to try to get into the lane and my big men involved."
The game was never close, with the Lobos bursting out to a 9-0 lead just three minutes into the game and never looking back. The tone was set early as junior center Moustapha Diagne and sophomore forward Patrick Dennehy each corralled an offensive rebound on UNM's first possession. Diagne finished possession with a turnaround jumper near the right baseline. The Braves first possession ended up with a traveling call after the shot clock was winding down because of tough Lobo defense.
With the big men altering shots in the paint and the guards making it tough for Alcorn State to get very many quality shots, the Lobos were able to shut down the Braves attack.
The Lobos turned the stingy defense into easy points, with the Lobo transition game working on all cylinders.
"(Defense) is where it all starts," Parmer said. "Most people don't understand why we can't run sometimes. We were able to run tonight because it all started on the defensive end. We were locking our guys up and that is something you have to do."
UNM stretched the lead to 30-16 on a jumper in the corner by freshman forward Jamaal Williams. Alcorn State answered by scoring the next seven points to cut the lead to 30-23 before the Lobos went on a 10-0 run in the final three-and-a-half minutes to lead convincingly at the half 40-23.
The Lobos shot 51 percent in the opening half and dominated the boards with a 25-7 advantage. Dennehy grabbed more rebounds, 11, then the entire Braves team.
"I was just trying to help my team," Dennehy said. "The ones I didn't get the rebound I tipped out to my teammates. All I was really trying to do was get the tip outs and stuff like that and if I could rebound, I rebounded. All I was trying to do was keep the ball alive most of the game and I got my players open shots."
UNM opened the second half by scoring seven of the next 10 points to build a 21-point lead. With the game in hand, the real drama began.
The last 10 minutes of the game saw three technical fouls, a flagrant foul, a Lobo player ejected from the game and plenty of flying elbows.
Freshman center Chad Bell was ejected with just under 10 minutes left when he threw a forearm into the chest of Braves' forward Lee Cook after Cook scored a basket and began to yell.
"Chad's a freshman and he felt the guy got in his face," Fraschilla said. "Whether he was right or wrong, I just explained to him that he has got to keep his composure in that situation."
Bell received a technical foul and a flagrant foul.
There were also technical fouls assessed to the Alcorn State bench and on Cook, who was hassled by The Pit crowd the rest of the game.
The Lobos stretched the lead to as many as 34 points late in the game. UNM finished shooting 48 percent from the field, including six-of-13 from the 3-point line. The Lobos also showed some improvement from the charity stripe, making 17-of-24 for 71 percent.
"I was very satisfied with the performance," head coach Fran Fraschilla said. "Great job defensively I thought most of the night. The rebounding was particularly satisfying."
Cook and Lee Harris led the Braves in scoring with 12 points apiece.
The Lobos next game is against intrastate rival New Mexico State University Wednesday in Las Cruces.
Parmer said he is looking forward to playing against the Aggies.
"Everyone is going to come out with their guns blazing," he said. "They have some great players. We have to come out with our best foot forward so we can try to get that victory because that is something that means a lot to me. If there is one game I really, really, really want to win, that's the game."
