Lobos fall in heartbreaker to Aztecs in Mountain West Tournament semifinal

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The drama was there. And for Lobo fans, so was the heartbreak.

In the eighth, and final time the UNM and San Diego State men's basketball teams will meet in the Mountain West Tournament, a desperation Jake Hall 3-pointer at the buzzer came up short, sealing for the second-seeded Aztecs a nail-biting 64-62 semifinal win over the No. 3 Lobos on Friday night in the Thomas & Mack Center.

B.J. Davis hit a driving bucket off the glass with 2.1 seconds remaining — proving to be the game winner — for the Aztecs (22-10), who will play top-seeded Utah State in Saturday's Mountain West Tournament championship game

The loss drops UNM to 23-10 on the season and ends their hopes of playing in the NCAA Tournament, though they have said they do want to play in the postseason even if not the NCAA Tournament and have already had communication with the NCAA about doing so, though technically have until Sunday to make a decision. 

"Just really proud of our group,” first-year head coach Eric Olen said. “Appreciate all the fans, Lobo Nation that came out to support us. ‘Pit West’ is a real thing, and they certainly helped us. I know that our guys really appreciate that. They appreciate the support they've gotten all season from our fans. I know that they don't take that for granted."

The elation and despair of those Lobo fans, as has often been the case in what had become one of the better college basketball rivalries in the West over the 27-year existence of the Mountain West conference, swung from one extreme to the other with regularity in the closing minutes of Friday’s game. 

Trailing by four with just under one minute left to play, UNM's Deyton Albury drove right at Davis and drew a foul — a nerve-racking proposition in a game the Lobos hit just 53.6% of their free throws (15-of-28. The senior point guard, donning his tinted protective glasses from a scratched eye suffered in the Feb. 28 Lobos win over SDSU in the Pit, calmly hit both free throws to draw UNM within two at 62-60, with 54.2 left. 

The Lobos got a stop on the ensuing SDSU possession — a Davis missed 3-pointer that led to a rebound by Luke Haupt, who tossed an outlet pass down the right side of the court to a hard-charging Albury. The guard hit an off-balanced layup with 25 seconds left, tying the game 62-62. 

The announced semifinal game crowd of 9,048 — probably a 60/40 Lobos fan advantage — erupted, but had no time to enjoy the moment. 

SDSU didn’t call a timeout, immediately setting up their offense for Davis’ last shot, while being guarded by Albury. The Aztecs guard drove right, got past Albury and into the body of Haupt, laying in the game winner off the backboard with 2.1 left. 

“It all happened kind of fast,” Albury said. “The only adjustment I think I should have made was trying to send to his left hand. I think it probably would have made a difference — probably force him into a tough midrange instead of on-the-backboard layup.”

Ironically, Davis did get forced left and banked in a mid-range shot off the glass with 10 seconds remaining in the Jan. 17 Aztecs win in San Diego. 

After that play, and several timeouts, Haupt inbounded the ball, throwing it from the baseline to half court where Buljan mishandled the pass. The Aztecs’ Magoon Gwath grabbed the loose ball but stepped out of bounds with 0.6 seconds left on the clock, giving the Lobos a chance to inbound from in front of their own bench.

Hall fought through defenders, caught the ball but missed a quick 3-point shot. The Lobos leading scorer and the Mountain West Freshman of the Year was held to 3 points on 1-of-10 shooting for the game.

“Just show him the utmost respect that he deserves,” SDSU coach Brian Dutcher said of the defensive approach on Hall, a San Diego area native who averaged 14.5 points and hit six total 3-pointers in the two regular season games against the Aztecs. 

“(He’s a) first-team all-conference player, New Mexico's leading scorer, elite multi-level player. We showed him the respect he deserved. We stayed engaged. We didn't lose him. We made everything hard. If he was going to get baskets, they weren't going to be easy.”

While Hall’s shooting struggled the most Friday, the rest of the team wasn’t far off. UNM shot 32.8% from the field (20-of-61), the second lowest of the season, and hit just 15-of-28 free throws (53.6%), leaving far more points at the line than they needed to have changed the outcome. 

“You never want to miss that many free throws, especially in a tight game,” Haupt said. “There are so many things that we could have done better throughout the entire game. I think we're not sitting on one thing. We're disappointed about the result. We're disappointed for each other, this fan base, and it all kind of comes together as a big disappointment.”

Davis finished with 12 points, six rebounds and six assists for SDSU while Gwath had a team-high 17 and six boards. Gwath, the 7-foot sophomore who is one of the best shot blockers in the country but has been injured off and on since the end of last season, played 28 minutes, 17 seconds on Friday night, altering shots anytime the Lobos got near the basket. In two regular season games against the Lobos, he played just 10 and 23 minutes.

His presence alone, not necessarily any change in scheme for an SDSU team that has hung its hat on defense for years and consistently been one of the best 2-point defensive teams in the country for the past 15-plus seasons, made life very difficult for the Lobos around the rim on Friday.

UNM was led by Albury's 20 points and 11 more from Uriah Tenette. Tomislav Buljan had eight points and 10 rebounds but was just 2-of-7 from the free throw line ad 3-of-9 from the floor, all shots around the basket.

“I mean, they might have done a better job of making plays on the ball or being vertical,” Olen said. “I didn't think it was like a huge scheme difference. I mean, that's what they do. They're hard to score against at the rim. Obviously we would have liked to have finished a few a little better, but Luke (Haupt) talked about it. Level goes up in the postseason. Stakes go up. Whistles are a little less common. You got to adjust to that and find a way to get an angle or put it in the basket on some of those.”

SDSU's bench, including Davis, came up big, outscoring UNM 36-13.

SDSU is one of five MW schools leaving the league after this season to join the Pac-12. Friday was the eighth time UNM and SDSU met in the MW Tournament, with the winner going on to win the MW Tournament the previous seven times.

NIT info…

Olen was surprisingly non-committal on Friday night about playing in the NIT — surprising in that earlier in the week answered the Journal’s question about his desire to play in a postseason event other than the NCAA if that was the Lobos’ fate by saying “absolutely.”

New Athletic Director Ryan Berryman has confirmed there have been talked with the NCAA about the NIT and that the Pit is available for first round games, one of two dates for second round games (one date is already booked by the New Mexico Activities Association for use for the state spirit squad championships) and will not be available beyond the second round due to the annual PBR Ty Murray Invitational bull riding event in the arena. 

But Haupt and Albury said it was a coach’s decision, though Haupt added, “I want to play as much as I can in front of this fan base, for this university. So whatever that mean. If it means this was it, if it means we play more, I'm game.”

Said Olen, “When we get back, we'll talk to our administration. RB (Berryman, who was sitting in the press conference on Friday night) and I will have conversations about what's the best thing for our program. I will just say that I love this group. These guys are giving us everything they have. If I get the chance to be part of more basketball with these guys, that's something that certainly interests me. But we'll talk about that when we get back.”

There is little question that the NIT wants UNM to play in its event, especially knowing there have already been discussions about arena availability. The decision will be UNM’s. 

First half

Albury attacked the lane, got up in the air with nowhere to go against multiple SDSU defenders and turned it over.

Sean Newman was out front on what appeared to be a sure fast break bucket, but from the far end of the court, 5-foot-11 Tenette sprinted down court and chased Newman down, leaping high above the senior guard's layup try and cleanly blocking it.

The Lobos gathered the ball and Tajavis Miller hit a 3-pointer at the other end for a 16-11 lead with 11:22 remaining, much to the delight of the now-erupting Lobo fanbase, which appeared to outnumber the Aztecs fans by roughly 60/40.

But the Lobos weren't able to capitalize on what could have been a huge momentum-changing swing. In fact, after the Miller 3, SDSU put together a slow, albeit effective 10-0 run to take a 21-16 lead with 7:26 left in the half after a Miles Byrd 3-pointer.

By halftime of the back-and-forth opening 20 minutes, the Aztecs led 37-33. More worrisome for the Lobos was starting guards Albury and Hall each picking up three first-half fouls. Hall was 1-of-7 and had three turnovers in the opening half.

UNM also missed five of the 11 free throws they attempted in the first half, including the front end of 1-and-1 free throw attempts that essentially served as empty possessions.

Seven Lobos scored in the first half, led by Tomislav Buljan's seven points. Gwath scored 10 at the break for SDSU.

Other semifinal

No. 1 Utah State had five players score in double figures and hit 27-of-35 free throws to comfortably turn back upset-minded Nevada, the No. 5 seed.

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