The New Mexico Lobos got
double digit scoring from four players and scoring from 10 of 11
who played to
open the 2012-13 season Wednesday night with a 105-64 beating of
visiting
Victory University in front of 12,440 at The Pit.
UNM was led by
starting juniors
Cameron Bairstow and guard Demetrius Walker, who each scored a
team-high 22
points. Walker shot a scorching 8-of-10 from the field including
3-of-4 on
three-pointers.
"My team did a
really
good job of getting me the ball in a position where I could
succeed," said
Bairstow, a 6-foot-9 forward and UNM’s best option in the paint
Wednesday
night.
Bairstow, a
forward from
Australia, also pulled in eight rebounds while his countryman,
sophomore guard
Hugh Greenwood pulled in a game high 12 rebounds but scored no
points from his
point guard position.
“Not a lot of
point guards
get 12 rebounds and no points,” said Lobos head coach Steve Alford. “But Hugh
just plays so hard, and Hugh
knows what the emphasis and knows what best helps us win games.
That’s what Hugh
does – he stabilizes us. We just need to get some of these other
guards to
rebound the same.”
Junior guard
Kendall Williams added 17 points and six assists while guard Tony Snell
dropped in 15
points. Even walk on Chris Perez got in on the action scoring on
a lay up to
finish the scoring for the Lobos, who posted their 17th
consecutive exhibition
win Wednesday night.
The Eagles of
Victory, a
private university situated in Memphis, Tenn. gave UNM a game
early on, tying
the game 8-8 on hot shooting form junior Tyrell Hursey and
senior Keron Jackson. Hursey led all scorers with 28 points on 10-of-23
shooting, including
3-of-3 on treys. Jackson added a double-double – 15 points and
10 rebounds.
After falling
behind 6-2
early, Victory then exchanged leads with New Mexico, holding a
17-16 advantage
at 14:55 mark of the first half. But New Mexico went on a 12-3
run and never
trailed again. The Lobos led 56-33 at halftime.
“I thought it
was a really
good dry run through for us,” said Alford. “The last 10 minutes
of both halves
were really good offensively and defensively. We were pretty
efficient for most
of the night. But our defense for the first 10 minutes of each
half wasn’t near
where I’d like it. “
New Mexico
finished the game
shooting a 338-of-66 from the field (57.6%) and 21-of-28 (75%)
on free throws.
They also finished with 23 assists to 6 turnovers, something
that Alford found
encouraging – especially with the team looking at playing
primarily a four
guards line up.
"You are going
to see
those guards get an awful lot of minutes,” Alford said. “We have
to get those
guys used to playing heavy minutes. They have to get trained
that way.
"I thought
Demetrius,
Kendall and Tony played well," said Alford. "I thought those
guys
were very good. They made good basketball plays. They set up
each other nicely.”
New Mexico
finishes up the
exhibition portion of its schedule Monday night against Division
II New Mexico
Highlands. The Lobos open the regular season on Monday, Nov. 12
at midnight
against Davidson as part of ESPN televisions 24 Hours of Hoops
marathon.