Williams’ return fuels Lobos
UNM finishes fifth in MWC, gets first round tourney bye
Is Tim Williams the chicken soup for the New Mexico Lobos’ soul?
Maybe not, but he sure knows how to make a sick team feel a whole lot better.
The Pit crowd championed the return of the 6-foot-8 senior forward, who had 10 points and six rebounds in his first game since Jan. 27, and UNM made sure it got one more day of rest for the Mountain West Conference Tournament with a 64-59 win over San Diego State on Saturday night.
With the win, the Lobos (17-13 overall, 10-8 MWC) get a coveted bye from the opening day of the conference tournament on Tuesday by finishing in fifth place in the regular season. UNM takes on Fresno State, the fourth seed, on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak.
Even though Lobos head coach Craig Neal was conservative in his assessment of Williams’ playing time, he gave his player a long leash. Williams played 31 minutes, including the final 11:06 as the Lobos fought off the Aztecs’ attempts to rally from a 45-30 deficit with 11:22 left.
The final 6 minutes of the game hearkened back to the “Tim and Elijah” days of closing out games. The duo had 10 of UNM’s last 13 points, and hit
5 of 7 from the free-throw line in the final 80 seconds.
Williams did show rust, though, in the first half. He missed his first three shots and his lone free-throw attempt before nailing a 13-footer from the baseline with 2:32 left before the half. He followed it with a shot off the glass before missing two free throws.
“Tim Williams … He’s back,” Neal said to the crowd during the “Senior Night” ceremony that honored him, Obij Aget and Devon Williams.
And so was Brown. After struggling with his shot and ability to get to the charity stripe, the 6-4 wing regained the edge that made him one of the best players in the conference. After getting to the line just six times in the past three games, Brown went 15-for-17 for the bulk of his game-high 26 points.
Neal said Brown showed maturity and patience, as he rebounded from a 2-for-8 first half to hit 4 of 11 from the field after the break.
“I thought Elijah Brown was outstanding,” Neal said. “I thought his leadership, how he willed his team to win … I think he showed a lot of maturity [Saturday].”
That was best exemplified when he came off a baseline screen, took a Dane Kuiper pass and hit a corner 3 with 3:18 left that gave UNM a 58-49 lead.
Most of the first half was not for the faint of heart.
The teams combined to clang 33 of their first 42 shots from the field and eight of 13 from the line.
The Aztec’s best offense was Matt Shrigley, who hit a pair of 3s during the first-half chill to give SDSU a 16-10 lead with 6:55 left in the first half.
The margin grew to 18-11 on a pair of Zylan Cheatham free throws with 5:29 before UNM found the ignition switch. A Connor MacDougall threepoint play begat a pair of Brown free throws that begat a Williams 13-footer from the baseline. Overall, UNM finished the first half on a 14-6 run, with a 7-0 spurt within that burst, that gave it a 25-24 lead at the break.
Aget ended his senior night with 10 points and 10 rebounds to go with a pair of blocks.
NOTES
Senior night for St. Michael’s graduate: Estevan Sandoval also capped his UNM career as team manager and was honored with Williams and Aget after the game. Sandoval, a 2013 St. Michael’s grad, played on the 2013 Class 4A state runner-up team as a senior before taking on team manager duties the following year.
He was joined on the court by parents Loretta and Greg Sandoval, who the varsity assistant for Santa Fe High. The Demons lost 54-44 at Albuquerque Eldorado earlier in the day in the opening round of the Class 6A State Tournament.