It was the last home game of
the season for New Mexico's three seniors, and they all played starring
roles in a tough, slam-bang defensive battle with Utah. leading their
team to a 77-71 win that lifted the Lobos into a tie with the Utes for first
place in the Mountain West Conference.
The win -- which kept UNM unbeaten in
all eight conference games played in The Pit
-- gives the Lobos a 20-10 season mark and an 11-4 MWC record.
Utah is
now 20-9 and 11-4. BYU is one game behind and could make it a
three-way tie for first with a win at Wyoming on Wednesday night.
It was "Senior Night" for Tony Danridge, Daniel Faris and Chad Toppert, and a sellout crowd of 18,018 gave the trio thunderously noisy
support in their farewell performance in The Pit. The seniors
came
into the game as UNM's top three scorers, and they played their last
home game in stellar fashion.
 Danridge,
a 6-5, 215-lb. forward from San Bernardino, Calif., scored a game and
career-high 29 points. His total included 13 of 16 free throws,
also a career high, plus five assists, two rebounds and three steals.
 Faris,
a 6-9, 245-lb. post from Albuquerque,
contributed 16 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double of
the season. Faris also won a very physical battle with the Utes'
all-conference center, winning every statistical battle with the 7-2,
265-lb. post from Perth, Australia.
 Toppert,
a 6-7, 215-lb. guard from Albuquerque, scored 12 points and
had three rebounds and two assists. The team's leading
three-point
shooter, Toppert had two of UNM's four treys.
Junior
forward Roman Martinez had the Lobos' other two nothing-but-net
three-pointers among his 13 points. Martinez, nicknamed "Ro,"
also
snared seven rebounds, had two assists and three steals.
Danridge, Faris and Toppert
reminded this writer of the stars of the 1986 movie, "Three Amigos." Steve Martin, Chevy
Chase and Martin Short
starred in that comedy as goofy singing cowboys. But there was
nothing
laughable about the hard-nosed play by the three Lobo seniors.
Utah
actually a higher percentage of their field goal attemps
with 56.4% to just 42.1% for UNM. And the Runnin' Utes sank 8 of
14 treys to only 3 of 13 three-pointers by the Lobos.
But the Lobos owned the boards against the taller
Utes, grabbing 32
rebounds to 25. And the Lobos basically out-hustled and
out-quicked
the Utes, earning a 13-1 margin in offensive rebounds, and forcing Utah
into 18 turnovers against just seven of their own. All
these extra
possessions enabled the Lobos to take 18 more shots than the Utes.
That, said Utah coach Jim Boylen,
made all the difference. "They won the possession game," said
Boylen.
"We played our butts off defensively, but this is a tough team to guard
when you have to guard them for eighteen more shots. Got to give
them
credit, but I have a good team, too." The Lobos' win gave the two
teams a split for the season. Utah won the first game by
one-point,
eking out a 69-68 win at home on Jan. 31.
New Mexico coach Steve Alford
called it "a tremendous win" for his team. He was especially
happy
that his three seniors each closed their home court careers with "great
games." And he credited his team's noisy fans, saying "they
energize
us."
New Mexico will play its final
game of the season
at Wyoming, visiting the Cowboys in their "Dome of Doom" at 1:30 p.m.
on Saturday, March 7. Utah finishes its regular season at home
against
TCU at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
UNM's victory over Utah gave
Alford 44 wins in his first two seasons as head coach of the Lobos. He
overtook former UNM coach Norm Ellenberger, who
led UNM to 43 wins in 1973-74, and former coach Dave Bliss, who
had 42 wins at UNM's helm in 1989-90.
The game featured one other "sidelight
statistic." The 18,018 fans
who watched the contest will be the last crowd of that size to ever
watch a Lobos game. A $60 million renovation of The Pit will
reduce
the seating capacity to about 15,700 during the 2009-10 season.
When
construction is completed by early 2011, The Pit will have new club
seating and 40 "skybox" suites. But the final seating capacity
probably won't be any higher than 16,500.
Click here for some
audio from all 3 seniors!
Special for
TheRedMenace.com
If there is one Lobo hoops player that is a Red Menace Player it is the
one and only Daniel Faris!
 In 2004 Daniel
Faris took an official visit to The University of New Mexico. He was
invited to a Lobo football game by then Coach Ritchie Mckay. Mckay
brought Mr. Faris to the North End Zone section where the wildest fans
in the 505 dwell and they gave Daniel a Red Menace welcome!
 Daniel
signed with UNM and has never looked back. He is what The Red Menace is
all about! A lunch bucket guy. May not get all the glory. May not get
all the accolades and atta boys. But he is a scrapper, a junkayr dog, a
guy written off but refuses to go down. He is Red Menace!
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