The University of New Mexico Men’s Basketball team fell to 2-1 in Mountain West Conference play after losing 79-75 o the road against Utah State on Wednesday.
Tim Williams scored a game-high 30 points, his second time this season topping the 30-point mark, but it was not enough as a knee injury to Xavier Adams and foul trouble by Elijah Brown limited the other offensive options for New Mexico.
Jalen Moore led the Aggies with 20 points, seven rebounds, and five assists, while freshman guard Koby McEwen helped secure the win with 16 of his 18 points in the second half of a back-and-forth game.
There were eight ties and 15 lead changes in the game, as the Lobos looked to stay perfect in MWC play while the Aggies angled for their first win.
“I thought Tim Williams was terrific tonight he just did everything we asked him to do. You have to give credit to them, they played really well,” said head coach Craig Neal in a quote from golobos.com.
”You can’t allow a team that is scrapping and clawing for their first win to score 79 points. I told the team we can’t put them on the line and we gave them 28 free throws, and that’s what we do.”
It was a disappointing loss for the Lobos after beating San Diego State on the road on New Year’s day, and a big win for a Utah State team that moved to 7-7 on the year and 1-2 in conference play.
“This is only our first loss,” said Neal. “It’s a long conference season and hopefully we can have everyone back. We just have to play a little smarter and a little more mature. It was a perfect opportunity for us to come in here and get a win because of the weather and no one was here, but we didn’t take advantage of that.”
A snow storm limited the attendance at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum to only 3,897 fans, handing the home court noise advantage and making it a somewhat neutral court for the Lobos.
But that didn’t seem to matter, as UNM could not mount a comeback in the waining minutes of the game.
With the loss, the Lobos fall a game behind conference leading Boise State. The Broncos are 3-0 (10-4) after an impressive 18-point victory against UNLV on Wednesday night.
