Isabel Gonzalez
@cisabelg
New Mexico is back to .500 after taking down the Wyoming Cowboys 83-53 on Saturday. With this result, the Lobos are now 9-9 overall and 3-3 in the Mountain West conference. The Cowboys dropped to 4-14 overall and 0-5 in the conference.
Although this game broke a three-game losing streak for the Lobos, there wasn’t a big celebration afterward. Redshirt junior Carlton Bragg said his team is not relaxing, even after a large win. “We still have a bad taste in our mouths,” he said. “We are still hungry. This just gave us an idea on what we have to work on.”
Bragg finished the day as the leading scorer with 16 points, five rebounds, two steals and three blocks. During the postgame press conference, Bragg said it was all about the team.
Carlton Bragg led the Lobos with 16pts today. He also recorded 5 rebounds and three blocks. But for him, it is all about the team. pic.twitter.com/a49QfWtgOf
— The Lair New Mexico (@thelairnm) January 20, 2019
Vance Jackson got his fourth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. The offensive effort New Mexico showed allowed six Lobos to see 10 or more points on Saturday.
The Lobos opened the game with man-to-man defense. By the first timeout of the day at the 15:06 mark, the Lobos had reached double digits and led 10-4.
New Mexico reached its largest lead of the half at 22 points when the scoreboard read 38-16 and there were 5:45 minutes left on the clock.
By halftime, the Lobos enjoyed a 42-25 lead shooting at 50 percent from the field while Wyoming struggled and was at 35.7 percent.
While the New Mexico defense played a part in the Lobos’ success, the Wyoming offense has been struggling for a while. The Cowboys were coming in with a four-game losing streak. Their offense struggled during those games, scoring 56 or less points.
New Mexico continuing to defend and Dane Kuiper gets the steal pic.twitter.com/T9JXvpnF0S
— The Lair New Mexico (@thelairnm) January 19, 2019
The largest margin of the day was 33 points when the Lobos led 81-48 and only 1:08 remained on the clock. The game ended with the home team shooting at 48.3 percent from the field and holding Wyoming to 35.2 percent.
All available New Mexico players saw minutes, including walk-on Clay Patterson. The redshirt freshman scored two points from free throws and had The Pit cheering for him, as these were his first career points.
Walk-on Clay Patterson is in for the Lobos and has scored two points from free throws. The crowd cheers for him. pic.twitter.com/1VCym3aLw8
— The Lair New Mexico (@thelairnm) January 20, 2019
While the result was a good one, head coach Paul Weir was not thrilled with the 13 turnovers his team registered. He said he was not going to be overly excited and that he was ready to review film to keep making necessary adjustments.
“If we ever want to really turn the corner of the program, we have to play good defense and take care of the basketball,” Weir said.
Notes
- This was New Mexico’s first game without Karim Ezzeddine, who left the program this week to pursue professional basketball overseas. Ezzeddine was at the game watching and cheering on his teammates.
- Freshman point guard Drue Drinnon was not suited up for the Lobos. During Thursday’s practice, Drinnon was present but not practicing fully. On Saturday, Weir talked about a possible concussion from a fall that happened during practice.
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