New Mexico’s second exhibition game of the season on Friday was anything but a walkthrough, as the men’s basketball team experienced a myriad of woes, especially in the first half.
The Lobos took the scenic route and ended up with the result most probably expected — a lop-sided 88-66 victory. But the final score was not indicative of how tight things were for much of the game.
Head coach Craig Neal said Eastern New Mexico deserved a lot of credit for the way it played Friday night. The team played hard, played to win and took it to the Lobos from the opening tip.
ENMU hit a shot coming out of the first timeout to take an early 9-8 lead, one of many the team would enjoy on the night, as it gave the Lobos fits throughout the match.
Early in the game, ENMU hit 3-point baskets twice coming out of timeouts, one of which cut the lead to 21-20. New Mexico responded with a bucket by Tim Williams, a free throw by Obij Ajet and a dunk by Aher Uguak.
The run stretched the lead to 28-20, but ENMU thwarted the Lobos’ attempt to pull away, drilling another 3-pointer coming back from a break to hang around.
New Mexico did not do itself any favors with some very poor play in the first half. The team shot under 50 percent from the free throw line (8-18), missed all four of its three-point attempts and committed eight turnovers — but the Lobos still led 36-32 at the half.
WisePies Arena was eerily quiet as a stunned crowd murmured about what it has just witnessed.
Senior forward Tim Williams, probably not by design, played 19 of 20 first half minutes. But five Lobos each had two fouls at half, which may have prompted Neal to leave Williams on the floor.
ENMU continued to thrive for most of the second half. Despite the Lobos’ attempt to apply some half-court pressure, the Greyhounds continued to make shots and seized a 45-42 lead at the 14:24 mark.
Junior guard Xavier Adams sunk both of his free throws a few minutes later to regain the lead, 49-47, and seemed to start a trend of the Lobos making its foul shots.
ENMU was still not ready to take its foot off the brake. Senior guards Chris Wyms and Javaan Mumtaz both stuck 3-pointers to stay within striking distance. Wyms’ three pulled the Greyhounds within one at 58-57 with less than eight minutes remaining in the game.
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At the time, ENMU was 11-26 from deep, had shot 80 percent on free throws and had given up just two second half points off turnovers.
But then things startled to unravel for the Greyhounds. The team only made two shots from the field (none from 3-point range) and went 50 percent from the charity stripe.
The Lobos saw their opportunity and took it.
Williams and Connor MacDougall, a sophomore forward, began attacking inside. The two combined to score the next 12 points for New Mexico, while limiting ENMU to one made shot to surge ahead 70-59.
Jordan Hunter launched a 3-pointer to put the Lobos up by 16 with three-and-a-half minutes to go. The crowd of 10,283,no longer on pins and needles, let out a loud roar as its team finally weathered the storm.
The Lobos took control and ended the game on a 30-9 run.
MacDougall gave Williams a lot of credit for the run he and his teammate spearheaded. He said Williams is a big threat and everyone on the court knows it, and hoped he could use that to his advantage.
“He draws a lot of attention,” MacDougall said. “Really, it’s just kind of feeding on each other, you know. Making smart, plays not rushing things.”
William led Lobos team in points with 20, and recorded a team-high 14 rebounds. ENMU’s top scorer was Marquise Harris with 14 points.
Neal said there were some good things and they were some bad, perhaps the most glaring deficiency coming on a 29-47 free throw shooting night.
He said the team may have gotten caught up in reading some of the headlines of its 113-57 triumph over Western New Mexico on Wednesday and thought this game was going to be another easy victory.
The team is mature enough to know that it has to bring a certain level of intensity into each game and respect the opponent. Neal said he didn’t think his team showed that maturity Friday night.
“We learned a lot of things about our team tonight,” the head coach said. “We’re going to continue to get better.”
New Mexico was without junior guard Elijah Brown again, who Neal said was held out more as a precaution. Neal said Brown probably could have played, but felt it was more important to his future with the team to rest him.
The Lobos have less than a week to clean things up before their first regular season game. The Lobos square off against Idaho State Friday at 8 p.m. at WisePies Arena.
Robert Maler is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers football and men’s and women’s tennis. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.
