San Diego State Basketball Steals New Mexico's Hopes of Mountain West Lead
New Mexico’s Jake Hall (23) goes up for a shot against San Diego State Saturday night at Viejas Arena in San Diego, CA. Photo: UNM Athletics
The University of New Mexico men's basketball team erased all of a 15-point second half deficit and was on the cusp of grabbing a share of the Mountain West Conference lead on Saturday at San Diego State.
But the host Aztecs stole those hopes in the final seconds in yet another classic game between the two most dominant programs in the league for the past two decades, SDSU winning 83-79.
The victory leaves SDSU (13-4, 7-0) alone atop the MW while the Lobos are two games back.
No. 23 Utah State (15-2, 6-1) fell out of a tie for first place after losing earlier on Saturday at Grand Canyon University.
New Mexico (14-4, 5-2) had a chance to make it a three-way tie for first and looked like it might do just that in the final minute at San Diego State.
UNM freshman Tominslav Buljan's big second half led his team's comeback, and he had the ball as the Lobos were working for a shot with less than 40 seconds remaining and the score tied 79-79.
But SDSU's Miles Byrd, the MW's Preseason Player of the Year, stole the ball from Buljan, and the Aztecs' BJ Davis banked in a tough mid-range floater with 11.6 seconds remaining to make it 81-79.
The Lobos had one more shot, but freshman Uriah Tenette's jumper missed and SDSU iced it from the foul line.
“I was proud of the effort tonight to fight back and give us a chance to win," said UNM coach Eric Olen. "We did a nice job of executing better in the second half. Road wins in this league are tough to get and it is disappointing we couldn’t finish the deal, but we can take a lot from that second half.
"Credit to San Diego State; they made a few more plays in that final minute than we did."
The Aztecs made a ton of plays in the first half -- as well as shots -- and erased an early six-point deficit to lead 48-35 at the half.
They quickly upped the margin to 15 in the second half before the Lobos went on a 10-0 run and soon after pulled within 54-51.
It was "game on" the rest of the way.
POSTGAME PODCAST AND STREAM
Buljan, held in check much of the first half, started to dominate inside and teammates Antonio Chol and Tavajis Miller hit big 3s, but the Lobos couldn't quite get over the hump.
Each time UNM would cut the lead to a point or two, the Aztecs would respond. usually with Byrd making a play.
Still, SDSU couldn't shake the Lobos, and its biggest lead in the game's final 12 minutes was 73-68.
But New Mexico then got a pair of free throws, then a 3-pointer from Luke Haupt to finally tie the game 73-73 with four minutes left.
It was tied again at 75 and 77 before Buljan made a steal and slam to put the Lobos ahead 79-77 with just over a minute remaining.
The Aztecs tied it with two free throws before Buljan got the ball on an inbounds just outside the lane in the Lobos front court.
Enter Byrd again, who came from behind the big man and snatched the ball from his hands. San Diego State worked it to the other end that led to Hill's game-winning shot.
Byrd had a game-high 21 points, eight rebounds, three assists, four blocks and three steals.
Buljan led the Lobos with 20 points and 14 rebounds while freshman teammate Jake Hall had 15 points.
GOING DUTCH: Saturday's contest was the last between the schools at Viejas Arena as Mountain West foes. SDSU leaves for the Pac-12 next season.
They will play again at the Pit on Feb. 28, but Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher said that will be the last time the teams will play in Albuquerque as long as he's at the helm.
"We're not playing in the Pit (anymore)," Dutcher said on Friday.
Would he continue the series at SDSU?
"Absolutely, we'll have them here," Dutcher said. "But we're not going to the Pit, and we're not going to Laramie (against Wyoming). Now San Diego State might go back there someday, but it won't be with me as a head coach."
The two MW big boys have a rematch in The Pit on Feb. 28.
