Lobos blast Rebels in largest road win over rivals

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — There's no last call in Vegas. But UNM sent UNLV fans home early Tuesday night.

In the Lobos' most lopsided win over UNLV in the Thomas & Mack Center in the history of the rivalry, UNM led wire to wire, had four players score in double figures and thumped the Runnin' Rebels 89-61. to move into sole possession, at least for one night, of second place in the Mountain West standings.

"We got our butts kicked," UNLV coach Josh Pastner said on his postgame radio show played over the public address speakers in the arena after every home game. "... The fans deserve better."

By that point, there were more Lobo fans than Rebel fans in the building on a night UNLV had a generously announced 5,642 in attendance in the 18,000-seat venue.

With the win, UNM (17-4, 8-2 Mountain West) moved into sole possession, at least for one night, of second place in league standings. San Diego State (8-1) and Utah State (7-2) have home games Wednesday night.

UNLV falls to 10-10 overall and 5-4 in league play.

In the only regular-season game UNLV and UNM will play this season, the Lobos dominated, leading 41-22 at halftime and by as many as 38 points late in the second half.

Just before the under-12-minute timeout in the second half, Al Green hit a 3-pointer for the Rebels, the team's first in 10 tries. Green's three-pointer cut the UNM lead to 24 points (55-31) and also extended a streak UNLV cherishes dearly. It was the 1,280th consecutive game the Rebels have hit a 3-pointer — one in every game since the 3-point line was introduced in college basketball.

A sarcastic cheer of relief was heard after the shot before hundreds of fans hit the exits.

"Thank the good lord we hit a 3-pointer in the second half," Pastner said after the game.

The Lobos seemed to do just about everything right from the opening tip.

Knowing they could find success at the rim against UNLV's defense, which guards the 3-point line well, the Lobos scored their first 16 points within two feet of the rim and led 16-8 with 13:48 left in the opening half.

The Lobos held UNLV under 30 percent shooting in the opening half, outrebounded the Rebels 41-31 and scored 15 points off 16 turnovers. Also, UNM held UNLV without a double-digit scorer — the third time this season the Lobos have done it (Florida Gulf Coast and Division II New Mexico Highlands, both in the Pit, were the others).

"Our guys did a nice job of the execution. We were trying to keep them out of the paint, make them shoot jump shots," said UNM coach Eric Olen. "We felt like, relative to how we're trying to play, in terms of our foundation and core concepts, that we didn't have to make big adjustments. We felt like we should be able to do a good job in those things, and that we if we did execute, we might be able to frustrate them a little bit.

"But, you never come in and expect a margin (like that). ... But I did think the guys executed well, and good plan for Coach (Mike) Roberts and Coach (Tom) Tankelewicz."

Lobo big man Tomislav Buljan scored eight of those first 16 points in the paint for the Lobos and finished with a game-high 18 points. He also pulled down 11 rebounds, giving the freshman his fourth-consecutive double-double.

He was joined in double-digit scoring by teammates Jake Hall (16 points), Uriah Tenette (15 points, three assists and two steals) and Deyton Albury (11 points, five assists).

Albury and Tenette, the team's only two pure point guards, each had two fouls early in the first half.

The Rebels never made them pay — each Lobo finishing the game with just those two fouls.

"Coach Olen just told us to show our hands more, but keep having that physicality in there," Tenette said.

UNM shot 50.8% in the game — 10-of-24 from 3-point range and 23-of-41 on 2s — marking their fourth consecutive game with double-digit made 3-pointers.

NOTE: UNM had three previous double-digit wins in the Thomas & Mack Center over the Rebels, the largest being 12 points in 2014.

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