Lobos reach Mountain West title game with 74-61 win over Colorado State

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Mar. 16—Another win, another enormous step toward ending a decadelong NCAA Tournament drought.

The New Mexico men’s basketball team punched its ticket to the Mountain West Conference Tournament championship game — and likely the bigger tournament that starts next week — with a 74-61 win over Colorado State in Friday night’s semifinals in the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev.

The Lobos (24-9) will face perennial power San Diego State (24-9) in a Saturday matinee on CBS. To the winner goes the Mountain West’s lone automatic NCAA bid.

It was just a few days ago UNM’s postseason fate was firmly on the bubble, a spot where the team teetered on the edge of collapse after closing the regular season by losing five of its last seven games.

Wins over Air Force and Boise State in the first two rounds set up Friday’s game, a contest the Lobos never trailed in after scoring the first 11 points. Colorado State rallied to tie the game at 23, but UNM finished the half on an 8-0 run and eventually expanded their lead to as many as 16 on a Mustapha Amzil 3-pointer with nine minutes remaining.

The Rams (24-10), who were also playing their third game in as many days after wins over San Jose State and Nevada, sliced into the lead with a 12-3 run capped by a Joel Scott second-chance layup with 4:48 left.

Just when it seemed CSU was going to silence the heavily pro-UNM crowd at the Thomas & Mack, Lobos freshman JT Toppin scored on consecutive trips down the floor to put it back to double digits.

Toppin bounced back from a silent first half of two points and two rebounds to finish with 16 points and nine rebounds in the final 20 minutes.

Jaelen House had another strong night for the Lobos with 19 points, eight assists, five rebounds and two steals.

Amzil added 10 points and Nelly Junior Joseph nine to go with a dozen rebounds.

The Lobos set the tone on their first possession of the night when Joseph broke a scoreless tie just 16 seconds after the opening tip. House added five points, Donovan…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/lobos-reach-mountain-west-title-150200505.html

Author : The Santa Fe New Mexican

Publish date : 2024-03-16 11:02:00

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