Point guard plays to win

Few players — with the exception of the Jordans and Bryants — have the resolve to will their teams to victory.

Dairese Gary, on Wednesday at The Pit, fit into this conversation of elites.

Thanks to more-than-stellar play from the Lobos’ point guard, the No. 23 UNM men’s basketball team ended up atop the totem poll against No. 12 BYU, 76-72, handing the Cougars their first conference loss as well as their first loss in 15 games. More important, it pulled the Lobos (19-3 overall and 5-3 in the MWC) within one game of first place in the Mountain West Conference.

Lobo head coach Steve Alford gushed with pride when speaking about Gary at the podium.

“Jimmer Fredette is a very special player, but I wouldn’t trade my point guard for anybody,” he said. “He’s a warrior. He just doesn’t let you account for him. He does what he has to do to will his team to win. Anytime we got them in a man situation, we just thought Dairese could take those guys.”

Throughout the week, there was so much talk about Jimmer Fredette, albeit for good reason. He leads his team in several categories, among them averaging 20.2 points per game. Yet there was so little conversation about Gary.
And why not?

It’d be easier to overlook Gary, being Fredette arguably is the Mountain West Conference’s best all-around talent.

Make no mistake about it.

On Wednesday at The Pit, Fredette made his presence known, only Gary was a smidgen better. No, not points wise — Gary finished with a career-high 24 points to Fredette’s 25. But Gary had six points in the last two minutes of the game, including two clutch, game-defining free throws, with the Cougars sniffing at the door, and Fredette rapping at the door, within 67-65 at the 1:42 mark.

Gary slammed it shut, though, mainly from the charity stripe where he was 12-of-17, the most free throw attempts by a Lobo since 2006, when Danny Granger attempted 18 against Colorado State at its place.

It was the story of the night — Gary’s brutish, body-sacrificing play being the difference in a hotly contested seesaw battle.

Over and over, Gary slivered through the lane, snaking by, through and past a slew of BYU defenders. The stocky point guard played a tailored position — “points” guard. Not only did he lead the Lobos in points, but he handed out four assists.
Still, Gary said he doesn’t get caught in the hub-bub about comparing himself with Fredette.

“You can’t look at it like that going into the game,” he said. “I just try to focus on what I can do going into the game. If it’s scoring a basket, if it’s passing, diving on the floor I just want to do what I can to make sure that my team’s at its best potential.”

Amazingly, the Cougars never accounted for Gary, allowing him unrestricted freedom to slash through the lane, especially when the shot clock was winding down. And Gary didn’t disappoint.

Gary was asked if he got in the lane at will — or ad nauseum if you were the Cougars.

“It seemed like that tonight,” he said. “I just seen a big opening, I guess, and I took advantage of it. And when it closed down, my teammates were right there to bail me out. It was a good combination tonight.”

BYU head coach Dave Rose said the Cougars couldn’t find an answer for Gary.
“Dairese Gary was terrific,” Rose said. “I thought that when our post guys came up and helped there was a lot of quick fouls that were called, so that made us soft, but he’s a great finisher. Terrific free-throw shooter, and he was an absolutely huge factor for them.”

Certainly, it was one for the time vault, an insta-classic that never seemed to have an end-all-be-all climax.

Back and forth the Lobos and Cougars battled.

At the 3:07 mark BYU took its first lead of the second half, but Phillip McDonald made sure it was short-lived.

With the shot clock ticking down to four seconds, McDonald lofted up a floater, which hesitated on the rim, before dropping through the net. And one. After depositing the free throw, UNM regained the lead, 65-64. McDonald finished with nine points.

The Lobos got a much-needed boost from Curtis Dennis, who finished with 12 points, including an impossible corner-pocket treys where he had to strafe the sidelines. Roman Martinez was the only other Lobo to finish in double figures
with 12.

The Lobos, however, got more than enough from Gary,And as a result, Alford said, UNM’s back in the thick, winding MWC marathon.

“It’s a league race,” said Alford, whose Lobos will likely battle the Cougars and UNLV for the top shelf the remainder of the season. “Had BYU won this one there’s a lot of us looking up at them,” Alford said. “They have at least a two-game lead on three of us. You get to the midpoint and you’re still in it, anything can happen in that last month. And we’re playing well. We have our swagger back.”