UNM men make it eight straight losses
0-for-February is completed despite comeback at Fresno St.
FRESNO, Calif. — The New Mexico Lobos’ frightful February finally is over, but not on a positive note.
The Fresno State Bulldogs jumped out to 22-point first half lead, then did just enough down the stretch to hold off the hard-charging Lobos — a pattern the UNM men’s basketball team seems to have perfected of late — to secure a 59-55 win, handing UNM its first eight-game losing streak since 1959.
“You can’t come out and get punched, two or three times, get knocked down and not get up until it’s 30-8,” UNM coach Craig Neal said. “... I thought they were ready to play. I changed the lineup to get some more energy in there, but they just came right at us.”
UNM falls to 14-15 overall and 6-11 in Mountain West play and is guaranteed a spot in the play-in round (seeds 7 through 10) of the March 11-14 MWC Tournament. Fresno State improves to 14-15 (9-7 MWC).
In five of UNM’s eight February losses, they fell behind by double figures, but none was as bad as Saturday’s 22-point hole.
The Bulldogs, who hadn’t beaten the Lobos in the first five games since joining the Mountain West three seasons ago, jumped on UNM early with leads of 6-0, 12-2 and eventually 30-8
on an Alex Davis basket with 7:31 remaining in the opening half.
That was when the Lobos seemed to finally wake up out of their slumber. The UNM defense held the Bulldogs without a field goal for the rest of the first half and for more than nine minutes total extending into the second half. Lobo scoring runs of 13-0 and 4-0 cut the halftime lead to 32-25 in favor of the Bulldogs.
The Lobos came out in the second half energized and cut the lead to two or three points on several occasions in the second half, but as they had done in several other February losses, clearly ran out of gas after expending so much effort digging out of the early hole they created.
With one minute left in the game, a Deshawn Delaney free throw cut the lead to 55-53, but a Hugh Greenwood turnover with 15 seconds remaining, his second in the final two minutes and fifth of the game, seemed to end the last chance for the Lobos.
Delaney led all scorers with 15 points, while center Obij Aget had another double-double with 13 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots before fouling out with 56 seconds remaining in the game.
Three Bulldogs scored in double figures, led by 14 from Marvelle Harris.
FOR STARTERS: The new four-guard lineup the Lobos used to open the game didn’t work very well. Freshman guard Xavier Adams replaced sophomore forward Devon Williams for his first start since Jan. 6 at San Diego State. It was the first time Williams didn’t start a game this season.
A LITTLE HELP: Fresno State helped the Lobos out a bit in the second half. After reaching the bonus with UNM’s seventh foul in the second half with 9:35 remaining, the Bulldogs missed the front end of all three one- and-one free-throw tries until reaching the double bonus.