New Mexico cruised to its 11th
win in a row by starting hot. The Lobos hit nine of their first 11
shots and
shot 73% (22-of-33) shooting in the first half – including 5-of-9
from the
three-point line to take a dominating 53-29 halftime lead. The
Lobos were tied
at 2-2 and 4-4 early on but never trailed, opening up the throttle to go on
a 14-4 run
to take an 18-8 lead that would increase to a 24 points advantage
by halftime.
“Well I am
really pleased
with the effort tonight,” said head coach Steve Alford. “These
guys did a
really good job with effort and I thought we got it again
tonight. They were
really focused, we moved the ball well again tonight, and with
24 assists in
the game and that is a lopsided score.”
Junior Tony Snell scored a
game-high 18 points with
four
assists while senior Drew Gordon posted his 8th
double-double of the
season and junior transfer Demetrius Walker scored a career-high
in points and
assists with14 points and 8 assists.
“We just have
to come out
and win regardless of who we’re playing,” said Walker, who came
off the bench.
“It’s still something that I’ve been getting used to (coming off
the bench).
When I was at Arizona State I did the same thing. This year I’ve
still trying
to get into flow of things. I’m really feeling pretty good
coming off the
bench.”
The only drama
in the game
came when freshman guard Hugh Greenwood injured his right ankle
while fighting
for a defensive rebound at the 17:37 mark of the second half.
Greenwood
jammed his right
foot into the base of the standard holding the backboard and was
helped off the
court. Greenwood, who scored 10 points and had three assists in
his 16 minutes of play, was helped up the ramp. He later returned
with ice on his
ankle and did not return to the game.
“"I hope it's
not bad,
we haven't got any x-rays or anything, but it is a little bit of
a high ankle
sprain which has bothered him this past summer,” said Alford.
”It's the same
foot so we hope there are no lingering issues there. He will
obviously get a
lot of treatment within the next 72 hours."
UNM dominated
on the
defensive boards, out rebounding the Huskies 29 to 16 but just
edge HBU 38-34
overall on rebounds. But the Lobo vastly outscored the Huskies
44-28 in the
paint and had 21 points to HBU’s seven on fast break
opportunities.
New Mexico’s
bench outscored
Houston Baptist’s 42-29 and UNM has 12 steals compared to HBU,
who had 13
turnovers compared to the Lobos’ 10.
UNM finished
with 37-of-58
shooting (63.8%,) the highest shooting percentage of an
Alford-coached team at
UNM.
New Mexico
plays North
Dakota (5-8) in the Lobos’ final non-conference game of the
season Saturday at
1:30 p.m. at The Pit. The Fightin’ Sioux, who play in the Great
West Conference
along with HBU, last played on Dec. 31 when they lost 84-58 at
No. 17 Kansas.
Saturday’s game
will be
televised on Albuquerque’s My50 TV and broadcast on 770 AM KKOB
as well as the
Lobo Radio Network.
UNM begins
conference play
at Wyoming (13-2) on Sat. Jan. 14 at 3:30 p.m. The Cowboys beat
Utah Valley
University 76-70 Wednesday night in Orem, Utah. UVU is also a
member of the
Great West Conference.