Victorious Lobos Reach Semifinal

LAS VEGAS, Nev.  — Make it a hat trick for the New Mexico men’s basketball team against the Air Force Falcons this season. And the Lobos certainly didn’t need to pull a rabbit out of a hat to do it.
But tonight, when they face No. 20 UNLV in the Mountain West Conference tourney semifinals, they just might.
For the third time in three tries, the Lobos (25-6) had little trouble with the Falcons (13-16) — although this one wasn’t nearly as lopsided as the previous two meetings. UNM posted a 79-64 victory in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament here on Thursday night to advance into tonight’s semifinals at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center. The Rebels (26-7), meanwhile, held off Wyoming 56-48 after building a 22-point second-half lead.

A win tonight will send New Mexico to the tournament championship game for the first time since 2005, when they won the crown behind Danny Granger.
The Lobos whipped the Falcons by a combined 69 points in the teams’ two previous games this season. But the seventh-seeded Falcons looked like they might make this one at least mildly interesting in the early going.
AFA led 15-14 midway through the foul-plagued first half before Lobo sophomore guard Demetrius Walker came off the bench to hit a 3-pointer and ignite a 15-0 run.
“Our bench has been doing it all year, so tonight was Walk’s night,” said Lobo starting sophomore guard Kendall Williams. “He’s been real efficient all year. Him and Jamal (Fenton) and Cameron (Bairstow) were real effective tonight.”
The Falcons then couldn’t keep the Lobos off the free throw line. Air Force committed 18 fouls in the first half (to UNM’s 11) and the Lobos capitalized by making 23 of 27 free throws. New Mexico scored its final nine points and 18 of its final 27 from the foul line in the first half.
Senior post Drew Gordon finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. He had just one field goal and three boards in the half, but was  5-of-6 from the foul line.
Gordon also got hurt defensively early in the second half, after the Lobos posted a 45-31 lead at the break.
Air Force’s Justin Hammonds blazed past Gordon on the Falcons’ first two possessions of the second half to cut the lead to 10, and coach Steve Alford sent Gordon to the bench.
But UNM guards Hugh Greenwood and Tony Snell responded with back-to-back 3s to push the lead to 16, and they stayed in control until Air Force cut it to 69-60 with just under five minutes remaining.
Walker then drained another 3, and the Falcons’ run was finished.
“Our margin of error was limited because of the depths we were in,” said AFA coach Dave Pilipovich. “… I can’t be more proud of the guys’ effort. (The Lobos) are going to play for a couple weeks; that team is talented.”
Walker led the Lobos with 19 points. He was 5-of-6 shooting, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range. Gordon made 9-of-11 free throws for 15 points and added seven rebounds while Williams had 13 points and five assists.
“I feel like I had a real good week of preparation and practice offensively and defensively,” said Walker, who entered the night averaging 6.8 points a game. “First and foremost, I just wanted to come in and provide a spark, whether that’s offensively or defensively. Tonight was offensively.”
Air Force got a team-high points from Michael Lyons, but he was just 4-of-14 from the floor. Kyle Green added 14 points.
“I thought our guys did a good job every time Air Force made a run at us, we seemed to get a basket, make the stop to stop the run,” Alford said.

Press New Mexico’s Drew Gordon (32) puts up a shot against Air Force’s Justin Hammonds during the Lobos’ 79-64 victory. (Julie Jacobsen/The Associated)