The Lobos found themselves in a familiar position on Monday night at The Pit -- down by one point with less than 30 seconds left in the game.
"What's running through my mind is, 'why are we in this situation,'" sophomore forward Jamaal Williams said.
This time, however, UNM was able to come through with a victory thanks to senior guard Ruben Douglas' left handed lay in with five seconds left. He was also fouled on the play and his point after gave the Lobos a two-point lead, 90-88.
Northeastern University's pesky freshman point guard Jose Juan Barea had a chance to win it at the buzzer but his 3-point attempt was off the mark and UNM evened its record up at 2-2 on the season.
The game was eerily similar to the one the Lobos played in Las Cruces on Saturday, but this time they were able to come out on top. Like the game against NMSU, the Lobos led for nearly the entire contest but could not hold onto their lead, trailing NU for the first time with 1:01 left in the game.
Coming off an emotional roller coaster in which UNM lost its starting point guard Senque Carey to a spinal injury combined with the tough loss to the Aggies, one might assume that the Lobos had overlooked this little known but talented team. Not so, claimed Head coach Ritchey McKay after the game.
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"This is not a program that's going to overlook people," he said. "We prepare hard and long for teams and we couldn't overlook them. This is a team that was 2-1 and only lost to Rhode Island and they beat USC."
A trait that has haunted UNM so far this year is ineffectiveness of the team to keep its lead towards the end of halves.
The Lobos looked to have a comfortable lead at the end of the first half leading 38-29 with 1:58 left to play in the period. However, a compilation of mistakes led to a quick 7-0 run by the Huskies to end the half and got them back to within two points of the lead 38-36.
It was the same story in the second half as UNM took a commanding 72-62 lead with just over six minutes left but saw that lead dwindle to 74-72 shortly thereafter.
With the leadership of Carey gone, this group of youngsters has had an adventurous time during key moments of games. Some players are just happy to have won.
"We finally pulled one of these tight games out," said Williams.
Other players seemed to be unfazed by the closeness of the game.
"I knew in the back of my mind we were going to win," freshman standout Mark Walters said. "Our team is much more talented than that team."
Talented the Lobos may be, but inexperienced they most definitely are.
