Hall’s 32 points not enough as Lobos fall at Utah State

LOGAN, Utah — Not even Jake Hall's best Jimmer Fredette impression was enough to carry the UNM Lobos through the finish line to a what would have been at least a share of an improbable share of a Mountain West championship.

The freshman star Hall hit seven 3-pointers and scored a season-high 32 points, but it came in a loss, 94-90, to Utah State, which clinched the outright Mountain West championship and for the second time in three seasons had a crowd court-storm and net cutting as the Lobos walked out of the arena dejected. 

“I should have done more,” Hall said after the game. “You know, we all could say that at the end of the day, but … it's just frustrating.”

M.J. Collins scored 27 points and led four Aggies (25-6, 15-5 Mountain West) in double figures.

UNM (22-9, 13-7 Mountain West) finished third in the conference and will be the No. 3 seed in next week’s Mountain West Tournament in the first year under head coach Eric Olen, who led a team with no returning players and no returning staff.

“I thought we did a nice job for a lot of the season to put ourselves in that situation,” Olen said of playing for a share of the title despite his team having lost three if its last four games. “And I thought we fought and gave a great effort tonight, and just came up short.”

Hall showed up and showed out, finishing the game hitting 11-of-22 shots. He started the game hitting seven of his first 10 3-pointer attempts — few, if any, were uncontested. Be it tired legs or just the law of averages, he missed his final seven 3-point attempts and finished 7-of-17 from beyond the arc. His first miss in that final stretch — at 9:42 left in the game that would have tied the game at 67-67 brought out a huge roar from the Hurd, the USU student section that was on Hall all game, but many were heard giving him his respect by game’s end. 

“Maybe,” Hall said when asked if fatigue played into that final slump to close the game. “I mean, those are routine shots. They got a piece of two of them. But you know, I missed routine ones. I gotta be better in the second half for my team.”

His fellow Lobo starters, certainly could say the same. Deyton Albury, Luke Haupt, Antonio Chol and Tomislav Buljan combined to hit just 6-of-18 shots and 19 points to go along with six turnovers.

Buljan went 1-for-6 from the free throw line in the final 4 minutes, 2 seconds.

Lobo backups Uriah Tenette (14 points and a career-high seven assists), Tajavis Miller (16 points and five made 3s), and J.T. Rock (nine points) gave the Lobos their best shot at a win down the stretch as even Hall hit a wall, missing his last five 3-point tries.

“Every game's different. Different games, different guys get different opportunities,” Olen said when asked about the other starters struggling. “We got eight guys that are playing a lot. All of them are capable of making an impact. And we would have liked to have made a few more plays. Those guys are disappointed.”

Utah State opened up the game witha. 10-2 lead and, slowly but surely, the Lobos clawed back, closing the first half on a 7-0 run — a Hall triple, a Rock hook shot in the paint and pair of Haupt free throws — giving the Lobos their only lead of the game at 43-42. 

It wouldn’t last long. 

Utah State opened the second half on a 12-2 run — yet another in a recurring run of bad starts to games and halves for the Lobos, especially in recent games — and never looked back, leading for a total of 38:13 in the 40-minute game. 

Asked if he could pin point why his team has been struggling to start games and halves, something Olen said he doesn’t see as an issue as recently as the Feb. 24 loss at Nevada, the coach said quickly, “No.”

Despite the disappointment, the fight was clearly present from the 7.5-point underdogs on the road playing against a veteran-laden Utah State team that has made the Spectrum one of the toughest environments in college basketball. 

Even up eight in the final minute, the Lobos weren’t done. 

Miller buried back-to-back 3-pointers and cut the lead to two points with 30 seconds left. Tenette, fouled twice in the final 13 seconds, hit five free throws in that span, putting UNM an inbounds away from a chance at a game-winner — twice — in the final seconds. 

HALL NOTES: Hall’s 32 points gives him 506 for the season — a new freshman scoring record at UNM, passing the 484 points Kenny Thomas scored in the 1995-96 season. His eighth game with at least five 3-pointers ties him with Ruben Douglas (2002-03), Kevin Henry (1998-99) and Marlow White (1993-94) for most games with five 3s in a season for a Lobo. And his 17th consecutive game in double figures ties UNLV’s Anthony Bennett (2012-13) for most consecutive double-figure scoring games by a Mountain West freshman.

Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.