Boise State comes up big in second half, beats UNM to split season series

One streak ends. One continues. And neither were good news for the UNM Lobos.

Senior forward Tyson Degenhart, making his 121st start, scored a career-high 32 points and freshman forward Pearson Carmichael, making his first start, added a career-high 21 to lead Boise State to a convincing 86-78 win over New Mexico on Wednesday night in Extra Mile Arena in Boise, Idaho.

“Obviously, Degenhart is a really good player. We tried to mix up a million different ways to guard him,” UNM coach Richard Pitino said. “We’ve been terrific defensively the last two months. Tonight, when we needed to get stops, we just couldn’t do it. And if we did get a stop, we’d foul them.”

It was a drastically different game than the Lobos’ 84-63 win a month ago in the Pit.

New Mexico (22-5, 14-2 Mountain West) sees its eight-game winning streak come to an end and has now lost seven in a row in Boise (the last win was in 2017).

The Broncos (18-8, 10-5 MW) shot 48.1% from the floor, hit 10 3-pointers and were 26-of-32 from the free throw line — making nine more free throws than UNM attempted (UNM was 13-of-17 at the line). Boise State head coach Leon Rice was vocal after the game last month in Albuquerque and again this week, saying game officials allowed the Lobos to play too physical.

Of the 15 fouls Boise State was called for committing, Donovan Dent drew 10 of them, hitting 9-of-11 free throws, scoring 17 points with 11 assists and two blocked shots.

UNM, playing a second straight game without injured starting forward Mustapha Amzil, led most of the first half, but the Broncos used a 22-4 run early in the second half to put the game away.

“I don’t think it was necessarily us being short-handed of why they won,” Pitino said. “I thought they were really good. They needed it.

“Mustapha, we need to get him back. It’s tough to throw a freshman (Jovan Milicevic) — I love Jovan, he’s going to be a really good player — but tough to throw him in that environment.”

Carmichael’s 3-pointer with 11:58 remaining in the game put the Broncos up by 19 points, 64-45, which was the Lobos’ largest deficit of the season.

UNM point guard Donovan Dent had 17 points, 11 assists and two blocked shots in the loss. Three other Lobos scored in double figures: Filip Borovicanin (18), Nelly Junior Joseph (17 to go along with eight rebounds) and C.J. Noland (12 off the bench).

“I think it was just good offense and bad defense,” Pitino said. “We made some mistakes, and they made us pay. They made some big shots. Carmichael came in the game and obviously took advantage of his opportunity.

“We’ve been really, really good this year at being able to kind of shut people’s water off. And tonight was certainly not one of those nights.”

NOTES: Amzil (foot injury) was on the bench with a walking boot, missing his second straight game (and third in four games) with plantar fasciitis. He is the team’s third leading scorer, second leading rebounder and has hit the second most 3-pointers on the team this season.

The Lobos have a bye this weekend and are guaranteed to still be in first place when they play their next game, Tuesday at San Diego State. Third-place SDSU (11-4 in MW play) plays at second-place Utah State (13-3 MW) on Saturday. ...

Dent's 11 assists make him the first Lobo in the 26-year Mountain West era to have four 10-assist games in a season.

BOX SCORE: Boise State 86, New Mexico 78

Boise State shoots down New Mexico: Photos