The University of New Mexico (UNM) men’s basketball team was eliminated in the first round of the Mountain West Conference (MWC) tournament this week. The team lost a 79-72 game to the University of Nevada, Reno at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
The Lobos ended their first season under head coach Richard Pitino at 13-18 after going 5-12 in the conference during the regular season, according to the team's website. Nevada (13-17) advanced to the quarterfinals. Jaelen House led the Lobos with 19 points, while Grant Sherfield topped Nevada with 27. The Wolf Pack made 51 percent of its field goal attempts, converting 26 of 51, including 5 of 13 from the three-point range. Sherfield was 9-of-17 from the floor and led Nevada with 10 rebounds.
The Lobos had a slim 35-34 lead at halftime, but Nevada owned a 71-61 advantage until a three-pointer by K.J. Jenkins cut Nevada’s edge to 71-64 with 2:52 remaining. Two free throws by House got the Lobos to 75-72 with 42 seconds remaining, but a turnover by House with 35 seconds left ruined New Mexico’s comeback chances.
"It was a difficult game, in the sense of being in as much foul trouble as we were in," Pitino said. "We just didn’t execute at the end... Bottom line is, when you take a step back, we showed a lot of growth this year. A lot of growth from a lot of adversity and inexperience. We can learn from it. I’m disappointed to go home early, but I’m proud of what we are building."
The Lobos concluded the regular season last week with a 76-67 victory over the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) at The Pit. House had 27 points and Jamal Mashburn, Jr. added 21 points to lead the Lobos in the home finale game.