Lobos get defensive, grind out physical win over San Jose State
Brown racks up 13 points, 10 rebounds
An easy win over a last-place opponent it was not.
The University of New Mexico did not have its usual shooting touch Saturday and had to grind out a 70-61 victory over San Jose State through a combination of free throws, defensive stops and floor burns.
Viané Cumber scored 16 points and Amaya Brown chipped in a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds) as the Lobos (17-11, 9-6 Mountain West) earned their third straight win in front of an announced 4,856 fans at the Pit. Sisters LaTascya and LaTora Duff scored 11 points each for UNM.
San Jose State (3-23, 1-14) dropped its seventh straight game but fans could never have guessed the Spartans’ record based on their effort. Both teams played scrambling, aggressive defense and there were bodies on the floor in pursuit of loose balls throughout the afternoon. UNM led just 56-53 midway through the fourth quarter.
“Give San Jose credit,” Lobos coach Mike Bradbury said, “they played really, really hard and competed at a high level. But I’m proud of our players, too, for finding a way to win when you can’t make a shot.”
The numbers backed Bradbury’s assessment. UNM shot just 32.8% from the field and the normally hot-shooting Duffs were a combined 2-for-17 from 3-point range.
SJSU spent much of the game employing a trapping zone defense that sometimes left the Lobos staring down open 3-pointers. Few (8-of-31) of those shots went in.
“Tough shooting day for us,” said Cumber, who was 4-of-11 from long range. “We had to focus on the defensive end, getting stops and rebounds, and then getting to the basket to win.”
UNM took a page out of its Thursday win over Wyoming to accumulate a sufficient point total
Saturday. With 3-pointers not falling, the Lobos began attacking the basket and earned repeated trips to the foul line, where they finished 22-of-26. New Mexico was 26-for-30 from the charity stripe against Wyoming.
“The last two teams we’ve faced really got out and pressured us,” Bradbury said. “We had more open looks today, but we also got aggressive and attacked the basket when we had to.”
The scrambling, physical game seemed to suit Brown, who made numerous key plays around the basket. Asked if she enjoyed such games, Brown laughed.
“Not really,” she said. “It’s not pretty but you just have to keep fighting in those kind of games. That’s what we did.”
The tone was effectively set in the first quarter, when UNM raced to a 14-4 lead only to have SJSU score the next 10 points to pull even. The Lobos led 22-20 after one quarter.
Cumber scored seven straight points during a stretch in the second quarter to give the home team a 34-25 advantage, and UNM took a 43-35 lead to halftime. But the Lobos’ offense went ice cold in the third quarter and the Spartans capitalized. Sabrina Ma drilled a 3-pointer and Amhyia Moreland scored inside to cap an 11-0 run that gave SJSU a 48-46 lead with 3:33 left.
The Lobos, who scored just three points in the first seven minutes of the third quarter, bounced back to take a 52-51 lead to the fourth. UNM held a tenuous 56-53 lead with 5:17 left when Brown came up with a key play, stealing the ball from SJSU’s Jasmine Singleton near midcourt and driving for a layup to energize the fans.
“That was probably the play of the game,” Bradbury said.
LaTascya Duff, who missed her first nine 3-point attempts, hit a key one with 2:03 left to give UNM a 63-55 lead. The Lobos then went 7-for-8 from the foul line to secure a tougher-than-expected win.