GOOD START
Lobos beat Fresno State in Mountain West opener
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Nobody took the passion away from Elijah Brown and the the Lobos on Wednesday night.
After having to sit on the program’s worst loss in a decade for the the past eight days, a rejuvenated Lobos squad led by their embattled junior guard opened Mountain West play with a 78-73 win over Fresno State in the Pit on Wednesday night.
But it didn’t come easy for the Lobos (8-5, 1-0 MWC), who have had their ability to handle adversity called into question at times this season.
“I thought it was a really good indication of the fight we have as a group,” said Lobos coach Craig Neal, whose team lost 77-46 against No. 18 Arizona on Dec. 20 to close out nonconference play. “… I thought our guys showed a lot of fight and a lot of resiliency and they grew over Christmas break.”
Brown, the preseason MWC Player of the Year, again looked the part Wednesday, albeit not as a starter.
The 6-foot-4 junior, who posted a tweet on Christmas night that seemed to be a red flag about trouble in the Lobos locker room and his unhappiness with being taken out of the starting lineup for three games, was the spark behind a huge first-half surge that put UNM up by as many as 14 points. Brown was the closer down the stretch, hitting six of his 14 free throws in the final 25 seconds to keep the Bulldogs (8-5, 0-1) just out of reach.
He finished with a gamehigh 19 points and was 14-for-14 from the free throw line, tied for the fifth most free throws made without a miss in Lobos history (he was 15-of-15 in last year’s MWC-opening win over Nevada).
“I think he’s the best player in the league. I really do,” said Neal. “I’ve got complete confidence in him . ... and I thought he led. That’s the important thing.”
Brown was one of four Lobos to score in double figures, with senior Tim Williams close behind with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
But it was Brown’s first-half statement that set the tone.
Brown checked in after the first media timeout with 15:49 showing on the clock and the Bulldogs leading 10-8. By the time he checked back out with
5:43 left in the half, the Lobos had gone on a 25-11 scoring run to take a 33-21 lead.
In the team’s 18 possessions in that stretch of 10:06, Brown was just 1-for-4 shooting with four points, but had two rebounds, two assists and made two other assist-worthy passes that set teammates up to draw fouls under the basket.
“He came off the bench and gave us the spark we needed,” said Williams. “When he came in, we had that big run and he had that sweet pass to Dane (Kuiper for a 3-pointer) and he just got everybody going. He was unselfish. He was swinging the ball. And when it was his turn to attack, he made shots and got to the free throw line.”
Kuiper benefited greatly from Brown’s presence on the court, scoring eight of his 10 points in the game with Brown opening things up during that stretch.
“Exactly like you saw tonight, he gets to penetrate and they have to come to him because he’s such a good scorer in there,” Kuiper said. “So he just kicks it out to me and I’m fortunate to hit my shots. He and the whole team put me in great situations.”
Kuiper’s 10 (all in the first half) and Obij Aget’s 12 points gave the Lobos the “second and third scorers” Neal has been saying for weeks the team desperately needs.
While UNM never trailed in the second half, Fresno State never went away, even tying the game 53-53 after a 9-0 run with 8:10 left. But the Lobos, who were 29-of-33 (87.9 percent) from the free-throw line responded to every Bulldogs run, much to the delight of a loud announced crowd of 11,844 that saw UNM win its sixth consecutive MWC opener and improve to 7-0 at home this season.
LATE GAME INCIDENT: The game was halted for a couple of minutes late in the game when Fresno State coach Rodney Terry said a Lobo fan was calling his players thugs, leading to a UNM employee going in the stands to try, without luck, to locate the heckler.
“I’ve got a team where we do everything the right way,” Terry said. “We’ve got a class group. We coach our guys hard. If someone’s going to sit there and call my guys thugs, we don’t have thugs. I’ve got good guys in our program. We don’t have thugs. I’m never going to let a guy say that. That’s never going to be acceptable.”
SPECIAL GUEST: Quinn Taylor, a 17-year-old who stars for the New Zealand junior national team, was with his parents at Wednesday night’s game on an official recruiting visit. The 6-foot-3 combo guard would be a part of the 2017 recruiting class and would add a much needed outside shooter to next season’s roster.