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Dent shines as Lobos beat Nevada and clinch first Mountain West title since 2013
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RENO, Nevada — They hadn’t won one since that guy at the other end of the court was coaching.
Tuesday night in Reno, it was all theirs.
Behind 33 points, seven assists and a game-sealing free throw with 5.2 seconds remaining from star point guard Donovan Dent, the New Mexico Lobos clinched at least a share of their first Mountain West championship since 2013, beating the Nevada Wolf Pack 71-67.
“That was the goal. I wanted them to believe,” said UNM coach Richard Pitino, now the only UNM coach other than Steve Alford, now the Nevada head coach, to coach a Mountain West regular season champion.
UNM Lobo men's basketball coach Richard Pitino and guard Donovan Dent after the Lobos beat Nevada on March 4, 2025, in Reno to clinch the program's first Mountain West championship since 2013. (Video by Geoff Grammer/Albuquerque Journal)
“Going into the season, you lose J.T. (Toppin), you lose Mash (Jamal Mashburn Jr.) to the portal, you lose (Jaelen) House, obviously a Lobo great to graduation. So to get some new faces in here, to get some quality wins in the nonconference ... very, very gratifying. Proud of my staff, proud of the players, everybody. I mean, they did an amazing job. We’ll enjoy it tonight, but we got a lot of season left to play.”
Pitino’s Lobos (24-6, 16-3 Mountain West) also clinch the No. 1 seed in next week’s conference tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada, with a shot at an outright conference title with a win on Friday in UNM’s Senior Night game against UNLV in a sold-out Pit or a Colorado State loss at Boise State.
“We’re not interested in sharing the title,” Pitino said. “We want it all for ourselves. We know it’s going to be very, very hard. UNLV is terrific.”
Tuesday’s win spoiled Senior Night for the Wolf Pack (16-14, 8-11 MW) and a potential celebration for Alford, who had 699 career coaching victories and now must wait at least one more game to reach the 700-victory milestone.
Nevada’s Brandon Love put the Wolf Pack up 58-57 with 8:38 remaining in another close one between the two teams, similar to the Jan. 3 affair in the Pit that the Lobos needed a buzzer-beater in overtime to win.
After the Love basket, Dent scored the next four points to put UNM up 61-58 with 6:33 left, and the Lobos never trailed again.
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His free throw with 5.2 seconds remaining that put the Lobos up by four points sealed the win.
In between his go-ahead bucket with 6:33 and that sealing free throw with 5.2 seconds remaining, Dent — the only Lobo to score in double figures — pointed out there were plenty of other Lobos who got the job done.
“C.J. (Noland) was big time — two and-1s, two clutch free throws,” Dent said. “Staph (Mustapha Amzil) and Tru (Washington) big 3s. It was just amazing. Everyone stepping up is what we needed.
Washington’s corner 3 with 4:55 left put UNM up 64-59 and Amzil hit a 3 with 3:11 left to push UNM up six (67-61).
Amzil (one), Noland (two) and Dent (one) hit four free throws in the final 42 seconds.
The Lobos opened Tuesday’s game about as well as they could have hoped.
Dent’s steal and layup opened the scoring and UNM had a 12-4 lead by the time 15:52 was showing on the clock, leading to an Alford timeout.
The Wolf Pack regrouped.
A back and forth first half in which Dent went off for 20 points, five assists and two steals ended with the Lobo point guard finding Nelly Junior Joseph for a dunk with three seconds remaining, giving UNM a 41-38 lead going into the locker room.
NOTES: The Wolf Pack had pregame Senior Night ceremonies for Tre Coleman, Xavier DuSell, Daniel Foster, K.J. Hymes, Brandon Love and Kobe Sanders.
Dent’s 20 first-half points were the most in a first half for a Lobo since Jalen House scored 26 in the first half against NMSU on Dec. 2, 2023.
