LOBO MEN LOSE THIRD STRAIGHT MWC GAME

Cold shooting, from field and foul line, results in 14-point loss to Nevada Wolf Pack.

LUBBOCK, Texas — The locale was different.

So was the piped in artificial crowd noise played over the speakers inside Lubbock Christian University’s Rip Griffin Center on Thursday night — a faint, white noise combatting the echoes of coaches screaming and sneakers squeaking that otherwise would have been bouncing off the empty plastic seats of the 1,500-seat arena.

But the result was the same. The UNM Lobos on Thursday struggled to score and shoot — field goals (31.0%) and free throws (42.9%)

— and lost its third consecutive Mountain West Conference game, this time 68-54 to the Nevada Wolf Pack in what technically was the first home game of the season for a Lobos team that has been relocated to Texas for the season.

UNM (3-3 overall) fell to 0-3 in Mountain West play for the first time since the 2006-07 season. Nevada improves to 7-3 (2-1 MWC). The two teams play again in Lubbock on Saturday.

“We have to improve our product of basketball,” Lobo coach Paul Weir said, answering repeated questions on a postgame video conference with reporters about how his team appeared to play hard, but simply can’t shoot.

He echoed past comments about not wanting to come down on his players when they’re doing what is asked of them effort-wise through difficult circumstances, but acknowledged results will have to start coming or confidence will vanish.

Not unlike previous games, the Lobos didn’t lack energy. Or effort. In fact, making the double-digit loss even more agonizing to watch unfold was the fact that they played hard and simply couldn’t hit shots, anywhere

— inside the 3-point arc (15-44, 34.1%), beyond the arc (3-14, 21.4%) or at the free throw line (15-35, 42.9%).

Eventually, even the most focused teams start to break when they simply can’t hit shots.

“It starts with me,” Maluach said after the career 74% free throw shooter went 1-of-7 at the line and still managed a teamhigh 15 points. “I have to show the leadership and hit my shots.”

For Nevada, starting guard Desmond Cambridge Jr. (24) and Grant Sherfield (20) combined for 44 (64.7%) of the team’s 68 points.

For the Lobos, Maluach (15) and Rod Brown (14 points, 11 rebounds) combined for 29 (53.7%) of the Lobos’ 54 points. But Maluach (1-7) and Brown (8-14) also missed a dozen free throws — a sign both of the team’s struggles and of their continued emphasis to attack the rim and draw fouls no matter the score.

The game started with promise — suggesting that, just maybe, last week’s series sweep by a combined 61 points at the hands of the Boise State Broncos was, indeed, a sign of a team not yet up to speed with its peers as opposed to simply being that overmatched.

A Keith McGee 3-pointer for UNM gave the Lobos a 14-9 lead with 10:24 left in the first half.

While that lead held for a couple minutes, it was about at that point that the Lobos’ shooting struggles began.

UNM missed 13 of the final 15 shots it took in the half and that five-point lead turned into a 32-22 halftime deficit in the span.

To open the second half, the Lobos seemed to abandon any effort at the failing half-court offense — amping up effort to attack and score in transition before Nevada could set up its defense and when they did, just trying a bully ball approach of muscling their way to the rim and trying to score or draw a foul.

And it worked, to a point. The Lobos did score some in transition and did get to the free throw line — shooting 23 from the charity stripe in the second half, but making only nine (39.1%).

The Wolf Pack lead ballooned to 20 midway through the second half as the Lobos’ struggles at the charity stripe continued.

Nevada hit only one field goal the final 6:04 of the game, but the Lobos went 3-of-7 from the free throw line in the same stretch.