Another Pit blowout for the Lobos: UNM improves to 8-1 with win over Fresno State

This time, they didn’t play with their food.

While the UNM Lobos have had a bad habit of playing up for top competition in recent games but not putting away bottom-of-the-standings teams like they should, a 25-4 smothering start to Monday’s game pretty much ensured that wasn’t going to happen this time.

Donovan Dent had 20 points, nine assists and no turnovers to lead five Lobos scoring in double figures and the Lobos beat Fresno State 95-67 in front of an announced Pit crowd of 13,111 for a rare Monday afternoon game.

“We reminded them of that,” UNM coach Richard Pitino said of his team having not been the best at closing out lesser teams, often getting sloppy or complacent with big leads.

“... We reminded them in the last four or five minutes, ‘Hey, don’t let up. Guard the 3-point line.’ We gave up a couple and-ones that we didn’t need to (late in the game), but overall, a great performance.”

UNM improves to 16-4 overall and at 8-1 in Mountain West play and are now two games up in the win column over second place Utah State. They also matched their best nine-game start in Mountain West history (the 2013-14 team started 9-1 before losing their second league game).

Fresno State falls to 5-14 and 1-7 in Mountain West play.

The Lobos, who never trailed in either game this season against Fresno State (UNM won in Fresno, 103-89 on Dec. 31), jumped out to a 16-0 lead on a Tru Washington 3-pointer off a behind-the-back bounce pass from Mustapha Amzil with 15:01 left in the first half.

Fresno State got on the board with free throws at the 14:45 mark and traded the next two buckets with the Lobos before Amzil scored the next seven points in a row for the Lobos, pushing the lead to 25-4 and forcing first-year Fresno State coach Vance Walberg to call another timeout with 11:50 remaining, leaving him with just one timeout for the final 31:50 of the game.

“I think we started it right away,” said Amzil, who ended Monday’s game with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting (3-4 on 3-pointers), seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. “They didn’t score until it was like 15-0 or something. I don’t know, we just played hard. We was ready to go. And they was kind of, I don’t know, they was kind of scared of the Pit, I think.”

In the run, UNM hit 10-of-16 shots, including four 3-pointers (and one free throw), scored 10 points off seven Fresno State turnovers and had nine fast-break points.

After that timeout, UNM did start to show signs of reverting to past bad habits.

Fresno State went on a 13-0 run that included UNM committing five turnovers on five consecutive possessions, mostly with reserve players on the court.

When the lead was down to eight at 25-17, the Lobos put the game away for good with a 10-0 run, leading 45-27 at halftime.

The lead mushroomed to as many as 35 points (80-45) on a CJ Noland 3-pointer with 7:31 remaining.

It was the third consecutive double-digit league win in the Pit in games that were never in question in the second half, following a 62-48 win over San Diego State on Jan. 11 and Friday night’s 84-65 blowout of Boise State.

All three were defensive gems for the Lobos — even Monday’s 67 points allowed to Fresno State came in a high-tempo, 81-possession game win which Fresno State was held to 0.838 points per possession.

“I think the commitment level to defense has been great,” Pitino said. “And you’re hearing them (Lobo players) talk about it more and more and less about offense. And it’s amazing when you don’t talk about offense, you score 95 points. So I think the commitment level to improving on the defensive side of it has been, for sure, what we’ve done over the (past month).”

In addition to Dent’s 20 point/9 assist game and Amzil’s sharp-shooting 15 point game, Nelly Junior Joseph had a 10 point/15 rebound double-double, Washington had 13 points (UNM is 11-0 when he scores in double figures) and freshman Jovan Milicevic scored 11 off the bench.

UNM out-rebounded Fresno State 54-35, scored 50 points in the paint, had 26 fast break points and hit 13-of-30 3-pointers.

Fresno State got a team-high 18 points off the bench from Brian Amuneke.

NOTES: The Lobo women’s tennis team was recognized on court during the first half and the players received their 2024 Mountain West championship rings. ...

The Lobos wore their yellow, state flag-inspired “Statehood Jerseys” on Monday. UNM improves to 3-0 all-time wearing the special yellow jerseys, having also beaten Nevada (85-58) on Jan. 5, 2019, and Wyoming (77-60) on Jan. 6, 2024.

BOX SCORE: New Mexico Lobos 95, Fresno State Bulldogs 67

STANDINGS: Here are the Mountain West standings through Monday's game:

8-1 New Mexico

6-1 Utah State

5-2 Colorado State

5-2 UNLV

5-3 Boise State

4-3 San Diego State

3-4 Nevada

2-5 Wyoming

2-6 San Jose State

1-7 Fresno State

0-7 Air Force

Photos: UNM men's basketball takes on Fresno State