But Snell, who’s inbounds passes had been
intercepted on two
consecutive inbounds in the final twenty seconds, was fouled
immediately after
and then calmly sank two free throws. Eikmeier misses his final
two treys in
the final four seconds and the Lobos held on to the win.
"I just block it out,” said Snell after the
game. “I
know that when I get out of it when I make a mistake because I
really don't
like making mistakes, but I've learned that I'm going to make
mistakes and I
need to just get over it and move on.”
New Mexico, which moved to 17-2 for the first
time since the
1977-78 season and posted its first 4-0 conference start since the
1991-92
season, took a 35-25 lead into the half after playing Colorado State (15-4,
2-2) even through the first 14 minutes of the first half.
UNM then finished the first half on an 8-0 run
that gained
it steam on a highlight-reel making dunk by Snell.
The Lobos played evenly to start the second
half before
going on an 11-3 run capped by a pair of Jamal Fenton free throws to take a 56-36 lead
with 9:56 left in
the second half.
But Colorado State immediately managed a n 8-0
run of it own
fueled by treys from Eiemeier, who led CSU with 20 points on 8 of
16 shooting,
including 4-6 shooting from behind the arc, and Dorian Green to
cut the UNM
advantage to 56-44 with 8:23 left in the game.
"They are a very gritty group,” said Alford.
“They
fight you. They do a great job defensively of making it hard on
you. They are,
without question, the most aggressive rebounding team that we have
faced all
year.”
Green scored 14 points while center Colton
Iverson posted
another double-double, scoring 15 points and pulling in 14
rebounds.
But while Iverson was effective for stretches,
forwards
Pierce Hornung and Greg Smith were both kept in check with foul
trouble and
great defense from New Mexico’s Chad Adams and Cameron Bairstow.
Smith fouled
out with seven points and six rebounds and Hornung scored just two
points and
added seven rebounds.
Colorado State did its usual great job on the
boards,
outrebounding UNM 42 to 28. But the Lobos were able to limit the
Rams’ second
chance points to 13 while turning CSU’s 16 turnovers into 22
points. The Rams
finished the game with all four starters in foul trouble, which
played into UNM’s
hands.
“We got to their bench - that helped us,” said
Alford. “Getting
Dorian Green in foul trouble in the first half and getting Greg
Smith in foul
trouble in the first half really allowed us to get into some
really good
rhythm."
Adams added 13 points and six rebounds – the
only other Lobo
on double figures. Junior guard Kendall Williams added nine points
and four
assists while senior Jamal Fenton came off the bench to add nine
points, going
6 of 6 from the free throw line.
UNM center Alex Kirk, who misses practice all
week with the
flu, posted three points and three rebounds in 21 minutes and
spent most of his
energy battling Iverson in the post, effectively limiting the CSU
transfer.