In front of an electric crowd, equipped with white "Howl Towels," the UNM men's basketball team beat the Brigham Young Cougars 65-63 in thrilling fashion.
In what was undoubtedly the loudest Pit crowd of the year, the Lobos pulled out an amazing victory on national television.
All the marbles came down to the final seconds.
Junior forward Danny Granger received a three-quarter court pass from teammate Troy DeVries with 3.8 seconds on the game clock. Granger then sealed off his defender, Rafael Araujo, the strongest guy on the court, and finished an uncontested layup to give the Lobos 2-point advantage and the victory.
"That play was just spur of the moment," DeVries said with a smile. "Danny did a great job of sealing Araujo, and he (Granger) just put his hand where he wanted the ball."
"Troy just threw a perfect pass," Granger said. "And I almost missed the layup because I didn't know how much time was left on the clock."
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But the game-winning bucket didn't come without its own drama. With UNM down one, and under a minute left in the game, Granger, who was double teamed, zipped a pass to Javin Tindall on the wing, who buried a three to give the Lobos a 2-point lead.
On the ensuing possession, the Cougars' Kevin Woodberry tipped in a missed shot to tie the game at 63. After the play, with 3.8 seconds still remaining on the clock, BYU's Mark Bigelow, who had earlier fouled out, ran onto the court. He was issued a technical.
DeVries stepped to the line for two free throws, vying to win the game, but missed on both. That setup the game winning play from DeVries to Granger.
In front of a sea of white towels and a deafening crowd noise, the Lobos and Cougars engaged themselves in an intense war, featuring smothering defense and 17 lead changes. BYU led for a majority of the first half, but UNM grabbed the halftime lead 33-32.
For both teams, the hard-fought offense came inside the paint from arguably the two best players in the Mountain West Conference.
For the Lobos, Granger was the answer. He finished with a game-high 27 points on 7-12 shooting, 13-16 from the free throw line. He also added eight rebounds and six blocked shots.
BYU pounded the ball inside to their stud, Araujo. He led BYU with 21 points on 9-19 shooting.
The win brings UNM (11-6, 2-2) back into the conference race, while conference favorite BYU falls to 12-6, 2-3 in the conference.
