New Mexico (18-4, 4-2 MWC)
led by as much as 44 points and got 23 points off turnovers in the
victory,
forcing 8 steals and 16 turnovers overall. The real measure of the
Lobos’
defense was Air Force’s poor shooting – just 5-of-28 (17.9%) from
the
three-point line and 15-of-51 (29.4%) from the field overall.
The New Mexico
bench
outscored the Falcons’ reserves, 42-22 and Phillip McDonald and
Demetrius Walker both came off the bench to add 11 points each.
“I thought our
focus and
concentration was good, but it has been. I’ve been saying all
along, we had two
bad halves in one week (against UNLV and SDSU), and that cost
us. But we’re
18-4, we’re doing a lot of good things and I’m very, very proud
of this team.”
After a tight
start, UNM
went on a 18-5 run to take a 24-9 lead with 7:00 left in the
first half behind
solid inside-outside play by the Lobos and a terrific defensive
effort that
took Air Force (11-9, 1-5) completely out of its Princeton-style offense.
“We wanted them
to try to
make shots from the perimeter against our defense against our
athletic kids,”
said head coach Steve Alford on 770 KKOB-AM’s post game show.
“We’re big, we’re
long, we’re athletic and I wanted to see them make shot over our
guys and not
get lay-ups. I don’t know of a back-cut lay up they got all
night and that’s
really impressive when you’re playing the Princeton offense.”
UNM powered its
way to a
40-19 halftime lead on 16-of-28 (57.1%) shooting and 6-of-12
(50%) shooting
form the three point line.
The Lobos did
not slow down
at all in the second frame, opening on a 17-7 run to take a
57-26 lead seven
minutes into the second half and UNM cruised the rest of the
way.
Jamal Fenton
and Cameron Bairstow came off the bench to each add seven points, while Tony Snell scored
six points. Fenton added five assists as New Mexico managed 21
assists on the
game.
“Our guards are
doing a
great job of taking care of the ball, getting us in an offense
and getting the
ball where it needs to go – getting the kind of shot we need to
get,” said
Alford. "That’s pivotal with guard play.”
With UNM in a
three-way tie
for third, Tuesday’s game was an important one, said Alford.
“This is a big
win for us, a
game that we had to have,” he said. “This (Air Force) team will
beat some teams
in this building. We’re very fortunate we got out of here with a
win.”
The Lobos are
now all-alone
in third place, pending other MWC games on Wednesday, headed into their game Saturday at Boise State.
Tip-off for the
UNM-BSU game is 2 p.m. The game will be televised on the NBC
Sports Network.