The Aztecs defense threw the
New Mexico offense out of sync with tough man-to-man defense then
took
advantage as the offensive frustration worked its way into the
Lobos’ marrow
and caused several defensive lapses in the second half.
SDSU (16-2, 2-0
Mountain
West Conference) turned the game around in the second half by
engineering a
15-0 to wrest the lead – and the game – away from the Lobos.
“It was a tough
game for us
– I give San Diego State a lot of credit,” said head coach Steve Alford. “They
are a very good basketball team. I thought they really guarded
and we took way
too many three-point shots. When you take 30 three’s in a game
you better make
a bucket load of them. I thought they did a really good job
defensively. We had
a couple of droughts, one in the first half and one in the
second half and in
those droughts we didn’t guard very well and that really
affected us.”
It as a frustrating end for a UNM team that started the game on
a 10-0 run and
looked to be on the same kind of path that lead to the team’s
similar home win
against Missouri State in December.
Instead, the
game became a
déjà vu of a different kind.
“(Tonight’s
game) had a
mirror image of the game against New Mexico State here at home
and we obviously
lost that one,” said Alford. “Our offense got stagnant and we
took too many
deep shots instead of continuing to attack the basket and that
affected us
because we didn’t get to the free throw line. We only had 10
free throw
attempts, which might be a season low.”
“I just didn’t think we attacked offensively and we settled for
shots which
affected our defense, which is immature,” said Alford. “We
haven’t shown that
in about two months, but tonight we showed that in the second
half.”
Playing a
four-guard offense
to UNM’s 3-guard, 2-forward line-up, SDSU countered UNM’s
initial burst but UNM
was able to retain the lead until the closing moments of the
first half, when
the Aztecs managed an 8-2 run to take a 30-29 lead. The Lobos
answered with a
Drew Gordon jumper to secure a 31-30 halftime lead.
We got off to a
good start
at the beginning of the game,” said senior Phillip McDonald, who
scored a
career-high and game-high 20 points Wednesday night. “I wouldn’t
say they were
more physical than us. They out-rebounded us in the end. That
run in the second
half – they showed a lot of poise by coming back. We have to be
better than
that. That 15-0 run towards the end of the second half really
hurt us. We have
to counter that. We have to do better than that and we have to
do a better job
at the other end.”
UNM started the
second half
on a 9-4 run to take a 40-34 lead with 16:05 left in regulation.
SDSU would cut
the lead to 40-39 on a made three-pointer and an easy lay-up by
transfer guard
Xavier Thames, who led all scorers with 22 points for the game.
UNM held the
lead but lost
it on a three-pointer by reserve guard LaBradford Franklin, who
put up SDSU for
good 49-48 with 11:39 left. The Lobos then went on their swoon,
as the Aztecs
mounted its15-0 run as UNM went 0-for-9 from the field over the
next 5:24.
New Mexico
tried to mount a
comeback but seemed to stall along the way. Phillip McDonald hit
a trey with 44
seconds and Tony Snell hit his only shot of the night with 30
seconds left to
give UNM hope and trim the lead to 71-65. But SDSU hot 9-of-10
free throws in
the final minute to thwart a Lobo comeback.
Senior Drew
Gordon finished
with 16 points and eight rebounds while facing double and even
triple-teams for
much of the game and sophomore Kendall Williams scored 15
points, pulled in
eight rebounds and finished with 5 assists in the loss. Jamal Fenton, who again
started for the Lobos at point guard, added 10 points and six
assists on the
night. Freshman Hugh Greenwood returned from his ankle injury
but played only
10 minutes, pulling in three rebounds and dishing three assists
but shooting
0-for-3 to go scoreless for the night.
The Lobos now
travel to UNLV
Saturday night with the tough assignment of facing a 15-3 Rebel
squad that
pummeled visiting TCU 101-78 Wednesday night to pull to 1-1 in
MWC play and
17-3 overall. New Mexico faces an uphill battle having lost a
home game to one
of the MWC’s title contenders. Taking back a road win at UNLV,
SDSU or Colorado State, which stands at 2-0 in conference, will be essential if
UNM expects to
win the regular season title.
“We probably
have the
toughest environment that we have to go into (Thomas and Mack)
and they (UNLV)
are outstanding,” said Alford. “They are a really good and deep
basketball team
so we have our hands full. This was a difficult week and it did
not start out
well for us so we have to pick things up and make some
adjustments and play
better on Saturday.
“It makes it
very difficult
in the league race when you lose games at home and loosing this
one puts our
back against the wall early in the conference race, and now we
have to make up
for that on the road,” said Alford.