Lobos at last
UNM beats San Jose State, finally gets first league win
It ain’t the Pit, but Burns Arena in St. George, Utah, has done the trick so far.
New Mexico got a season-high 25 points from senior Makuach Maluach, led throughout and comfortably snapped its eight-game conference losing streak on Thursday with a 67-51 win over San Jose State.
“Everyone’s happy and it’s good to see so many smiles for once,” said Maluach, whose season-high scoring night came on 10-of-14 shooting to go with six rebounds, three assists and a career-high four steals.
It was the second win in eight days for the Lobos (5-8, 1-8 Mountain West) in their temporary home for practices and games at Dixie State University.
Maybe it’s fitting — the team that has moved and relocated around the Southwest more than any so far this season has looked most at ease
in an arena named after M. Anthony Burns, the former President and CEO of the Ryder moving truck company.
Of course the schedule hasn’t hurt matters, either. Last week’s win was over Dixie State, a first-year Division I program. Thursday’s midday affair was against the Mountain West’s other 0-8 team entering the day, marking just the fifth time in the past 25 years two Division-I teams played a game with 16 combined league losses and no wins, according to basketball analyst Ken Pomeroy.
None of that mattered Thursday as the Lobos, desperate for a win and visibly building on a solid defensive effort in a 53-46 loss Monday night at UNLV, held the Spartans to 40% shooting. It’s the third time in four games the Lobos held an opponent to 40% or less (UNM opponents shot 46.0% in the nine games prior).
“It was the first, probably, really happy locker room we’ve had,” Lobos coach Paul Weir said. “… We’ve had some wins, and it’s kind of been a pretty monotonous kind of feeling there. But the guys were happy today, so I’m really happy for them.”
Tuesday, the team learned it, like all college sports in New Mexico, can return to the state again to practice. That had been prohibited so far this season due to the state’s public health order that had forced the Lobos to find out-of-state hotels to stay in and gyms for practice and game time.
Thursday was the first of two games the Lobos host the Spartans
(2-11, 0-9) before they get back home. UNM had worked out a three-game, two-week arrangement with DSU to play the Trailblazers last week, then get gym access to practice and host this week’s two-game series with SJSU, which has also relocated from its home due to a Santa Clara County COVID-19 order.
“It helped everybody in a huge way,” junior Rod Brown said of the team’s mood since Tuesday’s news broke that the team can soon stop living out of their suitcase, even if just for a few days before the next road trip.
“Knowing that we get to practice and actually sleep in our own beds for once … it just gives us a whole different look.”
Brown chipped in with 14 points, joining Maluach as the Lobos’ second double-figure scorer. Saquan Singleton started for the second straight game at point guard and though he shot just 2-of-9 with five points, he had five assists and one turnover.
While UNM (42.9%) didn’t shoot much better than San Jose State, the Lobos grabbed 12 offensive rebounds to SJSU’s six and edged the Spartans 12-5 in secondchance scoring. The main difference was UNM’s 42-26 points in the paint advantage.
The league’s two worst 3-point shooting teams held form — SJSU was 3-of-20 (15.0%) and UNM was 3-of-17 (17.6%).
UNM led by 10 at halftime, and it was never closer than nine after that.
The Mountain West’s leading scorer, Richard Washington — the Spartans’ 6-foot-6 senior guard who averaged 22.2 points per game entering Thursday — fell to the floor awkwardly with 5:27 left in the first half and did not return. His injury, and status for Saturday, is unknown. He had three points in 12:34 on the court and left with the Lobos leading 23-14.
NO MORE STREAKING: The Lobos’ conference skid ending at eight means it remains tied for the longest such streak in the Mountain West era.
Craig Neal’s 2014-15 Lobos also lost eight MWC games in a row — going 0-for-February after a 6-3 start in conference games.