All season long, the Lobo men's basketball team has been hampered by some distinguishable factors.
The Lobos have noticeably had lack of size, lack of depth and lack of scoring, all because of youth and inexperience. Despite those insufficiencies, they played with heart and intensity.
In their first round game of the Mountain West Conference tournament, the Lobos faced one the hottest teams in the conference, Brigham Young University. In the game, these distinct factors reared their ugly heads all at once.
While UNM played one of its best defensive halves of the season en route to a respectable five-point halftime deficit. It seemed the Lobos had expended all their energy and inevitably, they had.
After trading baskets early in the second half, the Lobos erased the five-point BYU advantage and took the lead, 32-31. Thereafter, the Cougars went on a 14-0 run to claim control of the game and the victory.
The run could be attributed to a variety of factors. First, the Lobos, a little tired, did not get back in transition while BYU scored on a trio of easy layups. Second, while the UNM inside combo of David Chiotti and Chad Bell bottled up the Cougars' big man Rafael Araujo in the first half, they had no answer to the bigger, stronger and quicker Araujo in the second. Araujo took over the game, rebounding and scoring at will to the tune of 19 points and 13 rebounds.
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Last, the Lobos were flustered on offense. Ruben Douglas could not get an open look at the basket and the whole offense froze up. Without the scoring of Douglas, the younger, inexperience players were unable to step up.
Although the game seemed like a debacle, the Lobos continued to show what this year's team is all about -- camaraderie, heart and desire. They just did not have the talent or the firepower to beat a tough veteran BYU team.
And so the long emotional season came to a close as UNM bid farewell to Douglas. He ended his career on a high and a low. While he was not able to unleash his prolific scoring arsenal and earn the Lobos a post-season victory, Douglas did earn himself the Division-I NCAA scoring title.
For the rest of the Lobo basketball program, it has nearly hit rock bottom, but there is only one way to go -- up.
If this game was any indication of where the future lies, then take a close look at up and coming freshman, Mark Walters and Chiotti. Thursday, these two men proved they could play at a higher level. In both of their first post-season appearances in D-I ball, they proved they were no longer freshmen. They will, undoubtedly be ready to contribute instantly next year.
Walters finished the game with 10 points, displaying an incredible drive to the basket and a sweet touch from mid-range, while Chiotti dropped in 10 against a much bigger and stronger opponent in Araujo.
This game encouraged the young, inexperienced Lobos for what lies ahead and what they need to work on.
In the first year of head coach Ritchie McKay's Lobo career, people are entitled to their own criticism, but as Douglas is whisked off to the NBA, one thing is for certain, the Lobos have bright futures ahead.
