The selectively worn good luck charm jacket, not necessarily the favorite look of his teenage daughter, wasn’t because the Fresno State Bulldogs were coming to town.

In fact, the No. 25 New Mexico Lobos dispatched the Mountain West newcomers with relative ease, 72-45, in front of 15,337 fans in the Pit.

“I knew a little bit more about the adversity we were hitting today than the rest of the group in here,” said Alford, whose team improved to 15-2 overall and 2-0 in Mountain West play. “So I thought we needed as much help as possible.”

The adversity the Lobos faced Saturday was far more self-inflicted than caused by the Bulldogs:

• Leading scorer Kendall Williams, who was not made available to the media postgame Saturday, was benched for the game for being late to a Friday meeting, his third punishment this season for tardiness.
• Usual starter Chad Adams came off the bench but played just 14 minutes, nursing a right knee injury sustained Wednesday in a win over UNLV.
• Reserve guard Demetrius Walker (and walk-on Chris Perez, for that matter) missed the game with flu-like symptoms.

None of it mattered thanks to what is becoming the new identity of the UNM Lobos — the one-two punch of Alex Kirk and Cameron Bairstow.

Kirk, a 7-foot sophomore, and Bairstow, a 6-9 junior, combined for 35 points, 19 rebounds and four blocked shots, exposing the young Fresno State frontcourt at every turn. Their domination in the post opened things up for a refreshingly aggressive Tony Snell to attack the rim at will, scoring 16 points in what was the Lobos’ largest margin of victory of the season by nine points.

Lobo Cameron Bairstow, right, drives to the basket past Fresno State’s Jerry Brown III on Saturday. Bairstow had a career-high 16 points in UNM’s win. (ROBERTO E. ROSALES/JOURNAL)

“I just thought our guys really responded well,” Alford said.

Fresno State (6-9, 0-2) had its own personnel challenge, playing without its leading scorer Tyler Johnson due to an ankle injury. The Bulldogs looked outmanned early Saturday, though four early 3-pointers and a 6-0 run had them within 23-20 with 5:44 remaining in the first half.

That’s when the Lobos, who have struggled to close out and start halves much of the season, ended the first 20 minutes with a 16-2 scoring run. It was capped by Kirk throwing down a dunk while being fouled and hitting the ensuing free throw to send UNM to halftime up 39-22.

“They closed out the half, made a really good run, and we never recovered from that,” Fresno State coach Rodney Terry said.

That run to end the first half continued to start the second. UNM pushed its lead to 46-23 with 17:31 remaining.

Bairstow scored 15 of his career-high tying 16 points in the first half; Kirk, who posted his fourth double-double of the season, scored 12 of his 19 in the second.

“Those two bigs, they’re a load,” Alford said. “And we’re starting to get an identity down low with what we can do with those two guys.”

That one-two punch rarely practices together, rather they go against each other, according to Alford. You couldn’t tell Saturday as they fed off one another in a high-post/low-post game that left the Fresno State freshmen posts baffled.

“We knew that when those two guys were in there,” Terry said, “they were going to be hard matchups for us.”

Bairstow said he prefers playing with the 7-foot Kirk as opposed to always subbing for him because “it’s an easier game.”

Everything came easy for the Lobos on Saturday.

Backup guard Jamal Fenton had nine points and a career-high 6 rebounds (more than the three grabbed by Fresno State starting 7-foot center Robert Upshaw). Freshman guard Cleveland “Pancake” Thomas got his second start and tied a season high with four points, including a fast-break dunk with 2:29 left. Redshirt freshman Kory Alford got into the mix with his first career point on a free throw with 1:45 left.

The Lobos continued to struggle shooting the ball from 3-point range (2 for 12, 16.7 percent), but it was easily overshadowed by their domination on the glass. UNM out-rebounded Fresno State 43-25, including 17-9 on the offensive boards. Kirk had eight offensive rebounds.

Fresno State got a team-high 11 points from guard Marvelle Harris, but the Bulldogs had 19 turnovers and shot just 33 percent (16-of-48) from the field.

“We’ve played a lot of really good teams this year,” said Terry, whose Bulldogs have allowed 70 or more points to only UNM and UCLA this season. “… I put (the Lobos) right up there with all those guys.”

The Lobos try for their first-ever 3-0 MWC start Wednesday at Boise State.

LOBOS LINKS: Roster | Schedule/Results | Geoff Grammer’s blog