The 12-5 upset that was
popular for national writers to buzz about Wednesday night
ultimately failed to
materialize Thursday afternoon .
Sophomore guard
Kendall Williams scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half and
continually
frustrated Long Beach State star Casper Ware on defense to help
fifth-seeded
New Mexico move forward with a hard-fought 75-68 victory
Thursday in the second
round of the NCAA Men’s basketball Tournament of the NCAA
Tournament at the
Rose Garden in Portland, Ore.
“We had a
pretty good game
plan for Cas,” said Williams. “He's a great scorer, great
player. But we
have some athletic guys and we
were able to drag out the screens a little bit. A little bit of
it was just
luck, him missing some shots down the stretch.”
The Lobos
(28-6) move on to
Saturday afternoon’s third round match up against fourth-seeded
Louisville. The
Cardinals defeated Davidson 69-62 in the first game in
rain-soaked Portland on
Thursday morning.
“It’s going to
be fun,” said
freshman point guard Greenwood said. “Back to the drawing board.
It’s going to
be a tough one.”
Williams was
also able to
make his presence known on offense in the second half, making
many of the
crucial offensive plays UNM needed in the win.
"I just wanted
to take
better shots and create opportunities,” said Williams. “In the
first half I was
a little passive, this being my first tournament. Our coaches told us to get into the lane
and penetrate and
make plays," Williams said. "I saw a few openings, a few
opportunities and was able to make some pretty big shots down
the
stretch."
The main story
line of the
game was how the Lobos would deal with Ware. Williams' length
and speed
obviously bothered Ware the entire afternoon. Ware, the Big West
player of the
year, was continually frustrated by Williams and at one point
went over 24
minutes without hitting a basket.
"I hit them
before.
They just didn't go in tonight," Ware said. "It's not like I've
never
hit them before. I hit plenty of those shots. Today they
wouldn't give me a
roll. When we went up by two, they just made more plays than we
did."
Ware ended the
game with 17
points on 5-of-19 shooting or Long Beach St., which ended the
season at 25-9.
The Lobo's
defense caused
the 49er's fits all afternoon forcing their normally excellent
ball handlers to
cough it up for 15 turnovers. UNM did not help itself however,
turning the ball
over 14 times themselves – mostly in the first half and almost
exclusively from
the free throw line. The junior transfer would finish 6-of-8
from the charity
stripe.
Senior forward
Drew Gordon
poured in 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Lobos – his 18th
double-double of
his college career - while facing a steady stream of double
teams from the LBSU
defense. With most of the 49ers' defensive efforts focused on
Gordon, Williams
came up with key shots late in the second half to frustrate Long
Beach State.
While the Lobos
were cold
from 3-point range for the game, hitting only 7-of-21 from
beyond the arc, they
shot 50 percent (25-of-50) from the field and 75 percent from
the foul line
(18-of-24) keeping the 49ers at bay as LBSU made a run in the
last seconds.
UNM showcased a
well-rounded
offense as Greenwood added 12 points and junior Demetrius Walker
contributed 11
points from off the bench, mostly in the first half.
Guard James Ennis and
forward T.J Robinson added 13 and 12 points respectively for the
49ers, who
finished with 28-of-65 (43.1%) shooting, hitting 8-of-14 (75%)
from the free
throw line but going just 4-of-16 (25%) on three-pointers – one
of the keys to
the game.
The game was
tight from the
get go. LBSU took an early 8-2 lead but UNM retaliated and took
an 11-10 lead
on a Gordon jumper just under the 12 minute mark. The ‘Niners
would take the
lead midway through the half but the Lobos fought back to tie
the game at 27-27
on a pair of Walker free throws.
New Mexico
finished the half
on a 6-2 run to take a 33-29 lead into halftime
In the second
half, the two
teams battled back and forth but UNM eventually made a run
capped by a Phillip McDonald trey and a lay-in by Gordon to give the Lobos its
biggest lead of the
game, 51-43 with 11:57 left in the game.
But Long Beach
St. would not
go away, rallying to take back the lead on a fast break dunk by
Ennis to give
the 49ers a 62-21 lead at the 4;38 mark. But Williams answered
with a trey on
the next possession to take the lead back and Gordon pushed the
lead further
after a Ware missed free throw to give UNM a 64-61 bulge and
LBSU would never
gain the lead again in the game.
Long Beach St.
was able to
out-rebound the Lobos 36-31, including a 16-7 advantage on
offensive rebounds,
gaining an advantage on second-chance points – at a tally of15-8
in favor of
the 49ers.
But New
Mexico’s bench, one
of the team’s biggest strengths down the stretch in the regular season as well as in the
Mountain West
Tournament, outperformed the LBSU reserves 26-15.