by Steven Fernandez
Daily Lobo
Tony Danridge carried the UNM men's basketball team for the first 16 minutes Wednesday at The Pit.
Unfortunately for the Lobos, none of his teammates got too involved on the offensive end, and Brigham Young ran away with the rest of the game in a
70-49 win.
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With the loss, UNM fell to 12-9 overall and 1-5 in the Mountain West Conference. BYU improved to 14-6 overall, 4-2 in the MWC and became the second team to beat the Lobos at The Pit this season.
UNM head coach Ritchie McKay said his team did not perform well against the Cougars.
"I thought BYU played great, and I thought we played poorly," he said.
Danridge was just about the only bright spot for the Lobos on Wednesday. The junior finished with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting and grabbed five rebounds.
No other Lobo scored in double figures, and Darren Prentice was the only UNM player to dish out more than one assist - though he only had four.
However, even Danridge was not effective in the second half, when BYU put the game away. After starting 6-of-9 from the field, Danridge only connected on two of his next seven shots and finished with just
one assist.
Despite late runs by BYU and a 21-point home loss, Danridge said the team did not quit.
"I feel like we tried," he said. "They made some good shots and played hard."
The Lobos took a 28-26 lead with 3:42 remaining in the first half after Prentice nailed a 3-pointer. However, that would be UNM's last point of the half, as the Cougars went on an 11-0 run going into halftime.
In the second half, the Lobos were never able to cut the lead to less than six points, as hot shooting -
especially from 3-point range - by BYU never allowed UNM to go on a significant run.
With 12:24 left in the game and the Lobos trailing 45-37, UNM leading scorer J.R. Giddens left the court with a sprained ankle and would not return. Giddens did not score a point in the contest and finished 0-of-5 from the field.
McKay said the Lobos are going to have to work through their struggles if they are going to turn the season around.
"I wish I had some solutions," he said. "But we're just trying to get through this adverse time that we've got."
Men's basketball at UNLV
Saturday, 8 p.m.
Las Vegas
