IT’S A COLORFUL CHERRY & SILVER
Cherry-Silver exhibition draws more than 1,000 fans at Pit
Newcomers show their stuff on the court — while one returning veteran plays a few piano tunes.
JaQuan Lyle has played basketball his whole life. But, before Saturday, the last time the Lobo senior guard laced them up in an actual under-the-lights, in-front-of-fans competition was March 8, 2017, in Washington.
Saturday night in Dreamstyle Arena - The Pit, though just an exhibition event in the Lobo basketball team’s annual Cherry & Silver game, was a long time coming.
“It was amazing to get out here and play in front of the fans,” said Lyle, who sat out at UNM as a transfer for the 2017-18 season, then sat out the 2018-19 season with a ruptured Achilles tendon.
“I haven’t played basketball in an organized game in front of people in a long time, so it was fun to
finally get out here and get my feet wet.”
Lyle looked rusty at times, certainly with getting back the timing on defense where his four fouls were twice as many as any other Lobo in the 20-minute scrimmage, which the Cherry roster rallied to win, 58-54, led by junior forward Makuach Maluach’s game-high 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting.
But Lyle played all 20 minutes for the Silver roster he captained, scoring 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting with a pair of 3-point baskets to go along with two assists, two steals and three turnovers.
Though the event isn’t what it used to be when it was once marketed heavily, known as “the Howl” and nearly filled the 12,000 seat lower bowl with regularity, Saturday’s version still offered the estimated 1,000 to 2,000 fans who came the same sort of intense scrimmage, 3-point and dunk contest as in the past.
“I hope people feel our energy,” coach Paul Weir said after admitting he saw little of the scrimmage. Instead, he spent Saturday night walking up and down aisles of the Pit to thank fans for coming.
“I think our team has a really good energy right now, particularly at this point in the year. I don’t know that I’ve had a team that has been this united at this point.”
IN THE KEY: Senior forward Carlton Bragg started the event by playing the piano at center court.
“I would say definitely my play on the court was better, but playing the piano is one of the things I like to do off the court,” he said. “It was special. It brought a little tear to my eyes as well.”
DUNK CONTEST: Thursday, Weir said the clear favorite for the dunk contest — “if healthy” — would be forward Emmanuel Kuac, the freshman from Canada who played high school basketball in Utah and has been nursing a knee injury the past couple of weeks. Well, he was healthy enough. Kuac posted a first-round score of 27 from three judges for a windmill dunk, tying him with junior guard Keith McGee and defending champion Drue Drinnon.
In the finals, Kuac posted a winning score of 29 with a similar dunk, catching the ball off a lob to himself and pulling the ball down between his legs and throwing down a reverse dunk.
For a bonus dunk after winning, he jumped over 6-foot-10 teammate Bragg for good measure.
“The windmill I used to do all the time in games,” Kuac said. “The between the legs, I’ve never done that before with two hands there.”
3-POINT CONTEST: Lyle beat UNM assistant coach Jerome Robinson 8-6 in the final round of the 3-point contest. An exhausted Robinson was quick to point out it started only one minute after his opening round (his 12 3s beat Rio Rancho High walk-on Clay Patterson, who had 10).
As for Lyle, he has no plans to stay quiet about his win.
“Oh, all the way until April,” he said when asked how long he’ll remind the coaching staff of his win. “Me and ’Rome always argue about who is the best shooter. He’s in the Bradley (University) Hall of Fame. I just wanted to show him who the better shooter was.”
RECRUITS: Bradley Ezewiro, a 6-8 center from California who is playing this season at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, was on hand for the exhibition Saturday night and got the grand tour of campus and the department’s academic and basketball facilities while on his official recruiting visit.
He was the only recruit on an official recruiting visit, but a half dozen others from around the state and Colorado, here on unofficial visits, were sitting front row on the south baseline of Bob King Court.
HE SAID IT: Asked about Maluach’s game-high 23 points, Lyle didn’t diminish the junior forward’s big night, but he shifted the praise onto one of Maluach’s teammates in the scrimmage.
“He had JJ (Caldwell) as his point guard. Period,” Lyle said of the former Texas A&M point guard who now plays for the Lobos and had a game-high seven assists.
“When you have JJ as your point guard, you don’t have to do much.”