Down 57-53 with 30 seconds remaining, Lobo guard Phillip McDonald rose up to take a three-pointer but was blocked in the process.
That block was reflective of the entire night for the UNM basketball team.
NMSU upset the Lobos 62-53 on Wednesday night, in front of a Pit packed full of 15,303 fans.
“I thought we were very good defensively,” Aggie head coach Marvin Menzies said. “Obviously that was our signature tonight.”
The Lobos were held to 28 percent shooting in the game, including 4-for-21 in the second half.
UNM head coach Steve Alford said this was his team’s worst offensive performance of his tenure as coach.
“They really guarded for 40 minutes,” Alford said. “They’re going to be a difficult team to beat.”
The Aggies’ size forced the Lobos to take tough shots and make errant passes, which contributed to 21 Lobo turnovers.
“They’re a really good team,” guard Tony Snell said. “They gave us a wake-up call. This is a learning experience for us.”
The big three, senior forwards Drew Gordon, A.J. Hardeman and sophomore forward Cameron Bairstow, combined for 2-for-16 shooting.
Foul trouble forced Gordon to miss a lot of the first half after he picked up his second foul.
Fouls were a common theme for the three forwards which allowed NMSU’s big men to dominate the paint and prevented the Lobo offense to gel.
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“I think that affected our rhythm offensively,” Alford said.
The Lobos didn’t get to double digits until the first half’s 10-minute mark.
Down five points with 7:45 left in the first half, Bairstow took a hard foul from NMSU’s Tshilidzi Nephawe. A technical foul was charged to Nephawe after a scuffle.
The foul sparked a 15-1 run, led by Demetrius Walker, and gave the Lobos a 27-18 lead.
The Lobos went into the locker room with a 31-26 lead.
In the second half, the game got away from the Lobos.
The Aggies shot 60 percent from the court and made 11-of-17 free throws to give the Lobos their first loss of the season.
Alford said despite the loss and offensive production, there was a positive to take from the game.
“We did a lot of good things defensively,” Alford said. “We just couldn’t continue to shut them out. We just couldn’t make any shots in the second half, and I thought that was the difference.”
Sophomore guard Kendall Williams missed all nine of his shots and finished with four points.
Snell was the only bright spot for the Lobos on offense. He had a game-high 18 points, including 5-for-11 from the field and made all five free throws.
Aggie forward Wendell McKines had no points on 0-for-7 shooting after the first half, but scored 14 of his team’s 36 second-half points to help defeat the Lobos.
The Lobos (1-1), face Arizona State in Tempe tonight.
Snell said the team needs to take its frustration out on the Sun Devils.
“(We have to) just take our anger out on them,” Snell said. “We’re really angry that we lost at our house.”
Up Next
Men’s Basketball
at
Arizona State
Friday
6:30 p.m.
