New Mexico moved to 26-4 and 13-2 in Mountain West play behind a 25
points from
junior Tony Snell, high highest point total ever in a MWC game,
and a pair of
double-doubles from big men Cameron Bairstow and Alex Kirk, who
tallied 15
points and 10 rebounds and 11 points and 10 boards respectively
to lead UNM to
the road win.
"Our
bigs are terrific," said UNM coach Steve Alford. "I thought they
were
as dominate in the paint tonight as they have been all season.
They controlled
the paint at both ends. And our guards controlled things. We are
taking care of
the ball. We are valuing the ball and taking good shots."
After
just combining to score just eight points and pull in six
rebounds in the first
half, Kirk and Bairstow combined for 18 points and 14 boards
after halftime.
UNM finished with four players in double figures as Kendall Williams added 10
going 3 of 6 from the floor and 4 of six from the free throw
line.
The
real catalyst for the Lobos’ second half run, however, was
defense. New Mexico
held Nevada (12-17, 3-12) to 2 of 7 shooting from the floor in
the last five
minutes Wednesday night.
"The
last ten minutes it was like the guys said, `OK, enough is
enough,'" said
Alford. "I thought we did a good job of wearing an opponent
down."
The
Wolf Pack was a game opponent for the first 30 minutes of the
game, mostly
riding the hot hand of guard Malik Story, who finished with 25
points on 7 of
15 shooting, including a 6 of 11 performance from behind the
3-point arc.
New
Mexico opened on a 10-5 run but Nevada equalized at 10-10 on a
pair of free
throws by Story at the 14:02 mark. The two teams proceeded to
trade runs the
rest of the half before UNM closed the half on a 4-0 run fueled
by a Snell
jumper and a pair of free throws to give the Lobos a 36-32
advantage at
halftime.
The
Lobos open the second half on a 7-3 run, taking a 44-37 lead on
an Alex Kirk
jumper with 17:03 left in the game. But the Wolf Pack would not
go away,
getting a 10-3 run to tie the game 47-47 on a Devonte Elliot lay
up with 12:44
left in the game. The two teams ended up tied again 55-55 after
a lay up by
Bairstow with 9:50 left. Story hit one of two free throws 60
seconds later to
give Nevada it’s final lead.
"It
would have been very easy to look the other way as far as
competing and these
guys just refused to do that," said Alford. "This team continues
to
win. We are getting a lot of notice.
"We
are getting national attention, national exposure," said Alford.
"The
brand is getting out there and people are talking about us as a
No. 1 or No. 2
seed and this team is not getting distracted by it."
UNM
tied a season low with six turnovers – the second game in a row
with that few
turnovers. New Mexico also out-rebounded Nevada 33-28 and
outscored the Wolf
Pack 30-22 in the paint. The Lobos also turned 11 Nevada
turnovers into 14
points.
After
shooting 50% (11 of 22) in the first half, the Wolf Pack was
held to 34.5%
shooting in the second half, hitting 10 of 29 from the field and
a paltry 3 of
10 from behind the three-point line.