Young Lobos handle workload in somewhat sloppy exhibition game victory

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Oct. 26—When he’s not on the team bench in street clothes, the Pit will still be Jaelen’s House.

Mashburn will again be a monster in the midrange.

And whenever Nelly Junior Joseph gets a chance to unpack his suitcase after arriving in the country Tuesday, he’ll shine as the Lobos center.

But if UNM’s 83-65 exhibition game win over Division II CSU-Pueblo on Thursday night showed fans anything of significance about what will be one of the most experienced rosters in the country this season, it was that the Lobos’ future, and perhaps its bench of the present, is in pretty good hands in sophomore point guard Donovan Dent and freshmen JT Toppin and Tru Washington.

“I’ve said from day one when we recruited Donnie, ‘That’s going to be the dude that’s going to help us win some championships,'” third-year Lobos coach Richard Pitino said. “Now, this (rebuilding) process has been sped up probably a little bit more than I thought it would early in it, but we loved what we got in him. He’s a terrific player.”

Dent, the 6-foot-2 sophomore, started in place place of preseason All-Mountain West point guard Jaelen House, who missed Thursday’s game with a leg injury that likely wouldn’t have kept him out of action if this were a regular season game. Dent scored a game-high 26 points — the most for a Lobo in an exhibition game since Cullen Neal scored that much, also against CSU-Pueblo, in 2015.

But as impressive as Dent’s offense was — a night that included a game-high 6 assists and drawing seven of the 19 fouls the Thunderwolves were called for — it was his role as a defensive pest that may have stole the show.

“Coach P really harped that to me a lot during the summer,” Dent said about his defense. “… I’ve gotta be better on the ball. I thought I got blown by a couple times that can really happen against a team like this. I’ve got to keep my man in front of me.”

Dent finished with 3 steals and 3 blocked shots.

Toppin, the 6-foot-9 freshman from Dallas, scored 12 of his 16 points and…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/young-lobos-handle-workload-somewhat-035900730.html

Author : Albuquerque Journal, N.M.

Publish date : 2023-10-27 03:59:00

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