Twenty years removed from its last meeting, the UNM basketball team and Idaho State played to the same result.
The Lobos (5-2) defeated the Bengals (1-5) 65-41 Wednesday at the Pit behind a balanced offensive attack in which no UNM player scored in double-figures.
Senior forward A.J. Hardeman and sophomore guard Demetrius Walker
led UNM with nine points. Eight Lobos scored at least five points and none had more than nine.
The last time UNM didn’t have one player reach double figures in a game was in a loss at Colorado State on Feb. 2, 1965. The Lobos had never won a home game with the same circumstances until last night.
“That doesn’t happen very often,” head coach Steve Alford said. “But we had good balance. I thought the key was our defense.”
The defense recorded a season-high 11 steals and held Idaho State to its season-low in points and were held to 29.6 percent from the field off of 16-of 54 shooting.
Walker said the Anaheim trip to the 76 Classic last weekend showed the team the importance of defense.
“We have to play defense,” he said. “We have to. If we don’t play defense, we’re not going to beat anybody.”
Offensively, the Lobos are still a work in progress.
UNM set its season lows for 3-point shooting 5-of-23 and was 12-of-24 from the line. The Lobos made 24-of-58 from the field.
“There’s going to be nights, like tonight, where offensively we just can’t make any shots,” Walker said.
Both teams took turns dominating portions of the first half.
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Early in the half, UNM went on a 9-0 run sparked by a reverse dunk from Drew Gordon to take a 13-5 lead.
The Bengals answered with a 12-3 run of their own to regain the lead.
That sparked another offensive push from the Lobos. Freshman guard
Hugh Greenwood and junior guard Jamal Fenton combined for 12 points as the Lobos closed out the half on a 19-5 run to take a 35-22 lead.
In the second half, the Lobos kept their intensity and continued to pressure on defense.
Up 21 points with 8:30 remaining in the game, Walker dove into the
announcer’s table to save a ball, which induced an ovation from the 13,142 in attendance
The Lobos dominated the paint, out-rebounding the Bengals 51-28. UNM had 22 offensive rebounds, which led to 26 second-chance points. The 22 offensive rebounds are the second-most for a Lobo team coached by Alford.
Gordon matched his season-high with 13 boards. Kendal Williams led the Lobos with six assists.
Idaho State’s Melvin Morgan led all scorers with 23 points from 8-of-19 shooting.
The Lobos have played four games in the past week, with three of them being on the road, and Alford said the team is ready to get refreshed before they play Montana State on Saturday.
“These guys have been in hotel rooms for a while,” Alford said. “We have to get back to a normal schedule and hopefully by the time we get to the weekend we can get some rest.”
