Well, so much for that. ... ... Statistically speaking, La Cueva's Ronnie Daniels got the better of Hobbs' Patrick Smith in the battle of the state's top two running backs. Daniels had 182 yards and two touchdowns to Smith's 125 and no scores in Friday night's (By Will Webber)

At 76, Mike Roberts is enjoying a renaissance. ... ... The longtime voice of the University of New Mexico, who was forced out by UNM in April 2008 after 41 years as the play-by-play man for Lobo football and basketball, now is the lead talent for KQTM's (101.7 FM) coverage of (By James Yodice)

It wasn't dynamic, although the University of New Mexico men's basketball team displayed some offensive flash at times, but Friday night was all about defense as the Lobos ripped winless Nicholls State 83-59 on the opening night of the World Vision Classic in the Pit. ... ... The Lobos (3-0) held the patient Colonels (0-3) to just 39.1 percent shooting from the floor and forced 17 turnovers behind their solid defense. ... "Defensively, it might have been our best effort," said coach Steve Alford. "We're a very good shooting team, but there will be nights when we don't (shoot well). We had a lot of guys shoot under 50 percent tonight, yet we hold a team under 60 points, hold them to 39 percent shooting." ... The Lobos shot just 43.6 percent (24-for-55) but were never really challenged. ... The game was close for just the first six minutes - the teams trading the lead five times - before UNM blew it open. ... The Lobos took control with a 24-4 run that covered nearly 11 minutes in the first half. Nicholls State, out of Thibodaux, La., had trouble getting good looks as UNM forced the Southland Conference school to run nearly all of the 35-second shot clock on each possession of the burst. ... "They were a good screen-and-cut team, so we just had to step up and guard those," said Lobo sophomore Phillip McDonald, who had a team-high 18 points. "We tried to guard them the whole shot clock. We played our principles, which we jump and help all the time, so they kept cutting right into to us off the screens." ... The Colonels, who lost their previous two games by a combined 55 points, did make it mildly interesting as Anatoly Bose led a 10-2 run late in the first half to close the count to 35-25, but that was about it. ... Bose scored a game-high 20 points, but 10 of those came from the foul line. ... "He's a really good player," Alford said. "We put a lot of different bodies on him, and I think that helped us tonight." ... Bose went 4-of-10 from the floor and 2-of-7 from 3-point range. ... While the Lobos were a bit sluggish on offense after their emotionally draining 97-87 win at New Mexico State on Tuesday - a game in which the Lobos lost all of a 19-point second half lead before rallying - they still had some brilliant offensive plays. ... Five minutes into the game, senior Roman Martinez had a steal and fed Darington Hobson for a ferocious dunk. Three minutes later freshman point guard Jamal Fenton dropped a dime on Nicholls State, giving Will Brown a perfect alley-oop assist for a rim-rocking slam. ... However, Fenton (3-of-4, nine points, three assists) and McDonald (6-of-11, 4-of-8 3-pointers) were the only Lobos who shot better than 50 percent on the night. ... "It's a draining week," Alford said. "We came off a very emotional road win, like an NBA 97-87 game. The flow of that game, we were up big, then get down, then you win. You bus ride home. That's a draining game mentally, win or lose. And when you win, that makes it just that more exciting, but it's still draining. And we're coming to the close (of the semester), academic finals are three weeks away, so our guys have a lot of stuff to do. ... "We weren't as sharp as we have been, but I thought the effort was there. The intensity was there, especially on the defensive end. And we got a lot of guys in (the game). We had a lot of guys with double-digit minutes." ... Nine Lobos played at least 13 minutes, with McDonald leading the way with 30. ... Hobson had 14 points for the Lobos while Dairese Gary added 13 and four assists against just one turnover. Martinez had 10 points and eight rebounds. ... A.J. Hardeman also had eight boards for the Lobos. ... Tonight, New Mexico plays Louisiana Tech (2-0) at 8:30. The Bulldogs beat Miami (Ohio) 74-62 in Friday's first game. Miami (0-3) plays Nicholls State tonight at 6. ... On Sunday, the Lobos play host to Miami at 6 p.m. The 2 p.m. game that day will have Nicholls State going against Louisiana Tech. ... (By Mark Smith)

As ironic as it sounds, neither of the teams that will convene at University Stadium today can afford to lose. ... ... Both Colorado State (3-7, 0-6 Mountain West Conference) and the University of New Mexico (0-10, 0-6) know what's at stake. ... The Rams are on a seven-ga (By Greg Archuleta)