Donovan Dent, elite defense key Lobos' win over San Diego State

Fans expected to see an elite defense Saturday in the Pit.

Two of them showed up.

Donovan Dent scored a game-high 16 points, UNM dominated the boards and played its best defensive game of the season and the energy from a riled up, sold-out Pit crowd on national television all culminated in a surprisingly one-sided 62-48 Lobos win over San Diego State on Saturday.

“We had to beat them at their own game, and (I’m) saying that with the most utmost respect, because they’re so tough physically, and our guys just did an amazing job of showing that toughness,” UNM coach Richard Pitino said after he improved to 4-3 against the Aztecs as coach of the Lobos and 3-1 in the past two seasons.

“So, phenomenal win, amazing crowd on national TV,” he said.

UNM (14-3 overall) improves to 6-0 in Mountain West play, and is in first place in the league standings along with 5-0 Utah State, which hosts Boise State later Saturday.

San Diego State falls to 10-4 overall and 3-2 in league play (their other league loss was to Utah State in San Diego).

The game wasn’t pretty. It never is when San Diego State is at its best, and UNM knew it would have to win the toughness categories on the stat sheet to have a chance against an Aztecs team that ranks in the top 5 in the country in defensive efficiency and has held eight of its 14 opponents to their worst shooting game of the season.

The Lobos’ 35.8% shooting against the Aztecs was only their third worst of the season (33.3% in Tuesday’s win over Wyoming and 35.7% in the Dec. 7 loss to New Mexico State).

But the Lobos more than made up for the shooting by:

• Holding SDSU to 35.4% shooting,
• Outrebounding the Aztecs 51-35 and 18-3 on the offensive boards (the 16-rebound margin was the worst of the season for SDSU),
• Outscoring SDSU 9-1 on points off turnovers, 14-1 on second-chance points and 13-2 on fast-break points.

“They beat us how we’ve won the last two games,” SDSU coach Brian Dutcher said, referring to the 15 offensive boards the Aztecs had last weekend in a road win at Boise State and 19 in Wednesday’s home win over Air Force.

“... This is how New Mexico plays. They’re extremely physical. They get handsy on the ball. They force you to drive into places they want you to drive and then they converge on the ball.”

After trailing 4-2 in the opening minutes, the Lobos used a 12-0 run that culminated in a Dent fast-break layup after much-maligned Mustapha Amzil came up with one of his two steals in the game to set up the bucket. The score put UNM up 14-4 with 13:58 left in the opening half, much to the delight of the announced Pit crowd of 15,428.

UNM led 30-20 at the half, tying the fewest points UNM allowed in a half in the Pitino era (tied with Division II Western New Mexico, which had 20 points in the first half in the Pit on Dec. 6, 2022).

SDSU scored the first five points out of the break, cutting the deficit to 30-25, but it would never get closer, with UNM leading by as many as 20 points late.

The Aztecs tried throughout to take away UNM’s bread-and-butter offense, the high pick-and-roll between Dent and center Nelly Junior Joseph.

While once could say they succeeded in doing so, the Lobos simply found other ways to make the Aztecs pay.

“I think offensively, we were terrific, even though only shooting 36 percent,” Pitino said. “They were fouling a lot. We should have made more free throws (UNM was 8-of-20 at the line for 40.0%). But we were very, very willing to stick to the offensive game plan, which was they were going to sit in the gaps. (We’d) punch the gap, pass it.”

Amzil, coming off an 0-for-7 game Tuesday at Wyoming, finished with a double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and two steals).

Filip Borovicanin, aside from his 6-foot-9 frame giving SDSU star Miles Byrd all sorts of fits in the first half (Byrd ended with a team high 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting), hit three triples for his nine points and pulled down nine rebounds.

Tru Washington had five rebounds and 13 points, including two early 3-pointers to set the tone.

“We got to win today, but we’re going to treat it like a loss, get back to practice and just keep grinding,” Washington said after the game.

1K CLUB: Dent has now scored 1,010 points in his college career, becoming the 38th player in UNM history to score 1,000 points as a Lobo.

He is now tied with Alex Kirk (2010-11 through 2013-14) and Ron Becker (1967-68 through 1969-70) at 35th all-time on the list, each also scoring 1,010 points in their three-year Lobo careers.

Dent on Saturday passed Hugh Greenwood (1,006 points from 2011-12 through 2014-15), who is now No. 38.

lobos 62, aztecs 48

SAN DIEGO ST. (10-4)

Coleman-Jones 4-7 1-2 10, Gwath 3-5 0-2 6, Boyd 2-9 2-2 7, Byrd 5-13 1-3 14, Davis 0-5 2-2 2, Compton 1-2 3-6 5, DeGourville 0-1 0-0 0, McKinney 2-6 0-0 4, Heide 0-0 0-0 0, Ferrari 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-48 9-17 48.

NEW MEXICO (14-3)

Amzil 4-12 2-6 10, Borovicanin 3-9 1-3 9, Joseph 3-10 0-0 6, Dent 6-12 4-6 16, Washington 5-10 0-4 13, Noland 1-5 0-0 2, Dotson 1-5 0-0 3, Atiki 1-1 1-1 3, Appelhans 0-0 0-0 0, Milicevic 0-2 0-0 0, Sacko 0-0 0-0 0, Webb 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-67 8-20 62.

Halftime—New Mexico 30-20. 3-Point Goals—San Diego St. 5-16 (Byrd 3-7, Coleman-Jones 1-1, Boyd 1-4, DeGourville 0-1, McKinney 0-1, Davis 0-2), New Mexico 6-28 (Washington 3-7, Borovicanin 2-7, Dotson 1-4, Milicevic 0-1, Webb 0-1, Dent 0-2, Noland 0-2, Amzil 0-4). Rebounds—San Diego St. 26 (Coleman-Jones, Boyd, Byrd, Compton, McKinney 4), New Mexico 43 (Amzil 11). Assists—San Diego St. 10 (Boyd 5), New Mexico 13 (Dent 5). Total Fouls—San Diego St. 19, New Mexico 16. A—15,428 (15,411).

UNM Lobos shutdown San Diego State in the Pit: Photos