Jake Hall and New Mexico Men’s Basketball Steal the Show in Demolition of Air Force
New Mexico’s Jake Hall (23) takes a three against the Air Force Academy on Saturday afternoon January 10th, 2026. Photo: UNM Athletics
What a steal.
Yes, it was another road game. Technically.
But it wasn't much of a game for the University of New Mexico men's basketball team.
What it turned out to be was the Lobos' biggest road rout in Mountain West history as they posted a 91-49 blowout of Air Force.
The Lobos forced 15 first-half turnovers and had 16 steals for the game in sweeping their week's two-game Colorful Colorado road trip. UNM (13-3, 4-1) won 80-70 at Colorado State on Tuesday.
The Falcons (3-13, 0-5), who finished with 21 turnovers, had yet another miserable league showing. They have been outscored by a lopsided 81-53 average in MW play.
“I thought we did a nice job today," said UNM coach Eric Olen. "We were disruptive defensively and mostly made good decisions with the basketball. It is easy to get loose when you get that big of a lead, but our guys did a good job of staying focused and closing it out. That’s what good basketball teams do. They don’t play to the scoreboard; they do their job on every possession, and our guys are doing a good job of learning to do that.”
AFA actually got loose for the game's first five points -- all by Cam Sanders.
But Lobo freshman Jake Hall countered with a 3-pointer -- one of five he had on the way to a game-high 24 points -- to start a 16-0 run, and the Falcons didn't score again until there were less than 12 minutes left in the half.
New Mexico led 23-12 when Tajavis Miller came off the bench to score seven straight points and help the Lobos to a 45-22 halftime cushion.
Just like the first half, the Falcons scored the first five points of the second half.
But it soon got silly.
The Lobos kept coming up with steals and making scoring runs, and the lead ballooned to as many as 44 points before the Falcons scored the game's final two points.
UNM, which went 3-of-25 from 3-point range (12.0%) in a 62-53 loss at Boise State the week before, hit double-digit treys again on Saturday.
After going 11-of-25 (44.0%) from long range at CSU, the Lobos were 14-of-36 (39%) at Air Force.
Meanwhile, the Falcons, who base their offense around Princeton-style back-door cuts and open 3s, were just 3-of-18 behind the arc (18%).
Hall, who also scored 24 points at CSU, finished 7-of-14 from the floor and 5-of-10 from 3-point range. The point total tied his career high, and he added a career-high seven rebounds, to boot.
Hall's fifth 20-point game of the season set a new UNM freshman record, breaking a tie with Kenny Thomas, Charles Smith and Phil Smith.
Miller had 16, point guard Deyton Albury had 13 points, hit both his 3-point attempts and added four assists while freshman Uriah Tenette scored 10 but was just 1-of-7 shooting 3s.
UNM's Antonio Chol also struggled from 3-point range, going 1-for-5 and finishing with five points.
Lobo freshman standout post Tomislav Buljan didn't hit double figures in scoring, managing only seven points. But he pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds, half of the Falcons' team total.
Buljan's boards were also the most by any player in a league game this season.
Sanders scored 13 points and Caleb Walker added 11 to lead AFA.
New Mexico returns home to face Grand Canyon on Tuesday night at 7.
The margin of victory was the Lobos' second largest overall in a MW game (100-55 over Wyoming in The Pit in 2008) and was the second-largest road romp ever in the league (Boise State 106, San Jose State 54 in 2020-21).
