The New Mexico Lobos
continued to find ways to win over the Thanksgiving weekend
running their
record up to 6-0 with a 73-58 win over the visiting Idaho Vandals
Friday night
and a 69-54 win over the Portland Pilots Sunday night in The Pit.
Monday morning
UNM was
rewarded for its winning ways as well as its resilient
performance at the
Paradise Jam tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands with rankings
in both the
Associated Press and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll.
The 6-0 Lobos
moved into the
Top 25 of both polls for the first season, earning a 25th place
in the AP poll
with 141 votes and 23rd in the Coaches poll.
New Mexico
moving back into
the Top 25 gives the Mountain West Conference three teams in the
Top 25 as the
San Diego State Aztecs and UNLV Runnin' Rebels remained in both
Top 25 lists.
The Aztecs
(4-1) moved up to
21st and 23rd respectively in the AP and Coaches polls, up from
25th in both
polls. UNLV (3-1) fell to 20th in the Coaches poll and 24th in
the AP poll
after losing to Oregon Friday night. The Rebels were ranked 18th
in both polls
last week.
The MWC’s
Colorado State
Rams (3-1) picked up 1 vote in both the AP and Coaches poll. The
Connecticut
Huskies (4-1), who UNM beat for the Paradise Jam championship
were ranked 28th
in the Coaches poll and 29th in the AP poll unofficially. Future New Mexico opponent
the Cincinnati Bearcats (6-0) moved up to 16th in the Coaches
poll and 17th in
the AP poll.
New Mexico
plays the Mercer
Bears (3-3) Wednesday night in The Pit then travels to play
Indiana State
Sycamores (4-1) as part of the Mountain West-Missouri Valley
Challenge.
NEW MEXICO
73, IDAHO 58: Junior
guard Demetrius Walker scored eight straight
points to help the Lobos take the lead as UNM turned away the
Vandals, who
challenged throughout the first half and actually led 42-36
before Walker
helped lead the Lobos to victory.
Walker was 5 of
5 on three
pointers in scoring a team high19 points. Alex Kirk added 11
points, nine
rebounds and three blocks. UNM was down 49-46 with 14:14 left in
the game when
UNM engineered a 19-0 run that saw the Vandals go on nearly a
nine minute
scoring drought that saw Idaho miss 12 shots and commit six
turnovers.
Connor Hill
scored a
game-high 20 points and Kyle Barone added 16 points for Idaho
(1-3). Junior
Kendall Williams added 10 points and seven assists and senior
Chad Adams added
nine points and five rebounds in his first start of the season.
UNM shot a
smoking 12 of 21
(57.1%) in the second half, finishing 24 of 47 (51.1%) for the
game. The Lobos
also shot 50% from behind the arc, going 10 of 20 but shot a
season-low 22 free
throws, hitting 15 (68.2%). Idaho edged out UNM on rebounds
30-29. New Mexico
committed just eight personal fouls, a record low in the Steve Alford era.
NEW MEXICO
69, PORTLAND
54: Sophomore post
Alex Kirk
recorded a double-double as UNM pulled away from the Pilots in
the second half
to claim its fifth win in a row.
Kirk scored 14
points and
pulled in 11 rebounds while senior guard Jamal Fenton use his
first start of
the season to score 12 points. New Mexico led 30-27 at halftime
but used a 10-0
run to start the second half and extended the lead out to 40-27
before Portland
(2-3) found any kind of rhythm.
Kevin Bailey
and Korey Thieleke each scored 11 points to pace the Pilots. Bailey fouled
out with 11
minutes left in the contest as UNM again scored a large portion
of its points
from the free throw line, finishing 29 of 38 from the line.
Sophomore Hugh Greenwood
added 10 points and six rebounds while juniors Kendall Williams
and Cameron Bairstow both added nine points. Bairstowjust missed a
double-double, grabbing
11 rebounds.
The two teams
combined to
shoot just 3 of 29 on three pointers. The Lobos outrebounded
Portland 44 to 35.
UNM shot 19 of 57 (33.3%) for the game while the Pilots shot 18
of 56 (32.1%).