Lobos get hot from beyond the arc, rout Rams

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Some people showed up for a 3-point shooting show in Moby Arena on Tuesday night.

The wrong team put on the show.

UNM hit 11 3-pointers and all eight Lobos who got in Tuesday's game scored at least six points in a balanced, and highly efficient 80-70 road win over a Colorado State team that entered the game as one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the country.

As for the Rams, who entered the game averaging a Mountain West high 10.9 made 3-pointers per game at a 41.8% clip (fourth best out of 365 Division I teams in the country), the Lobos defense took away the strength of the Rams and never allowed a scoring run of more than 5-0 the entire game, leaving the announced Moby Arena crowd of 3,640 unable to ever get revved up for sustained periods. 

CSU hit just 7-of-25 3-pointers (28.0%) in the game against a Lobos team whose opponents had been shooting the third highest rate of 3-pointers per game this season. 

First-year Lobos coach Eric Olen tinkered with the normal defensive scheme, and it worked beautifully for the visitors. 

"With the amount of shooting they have on the floor — obviously they have a couple (players) Nos. 1 (Josh Pascarelli) and 2 (Brandon Rechsteiner) who are really prolific —  but they really shoot it at every spot," Olen said. "We felt like it was going to be a real challenge for us to limit their strength. So we felt like we wanted to stay tighter (to Pascarelli and Rechsteiner and) not help as much; play a little more one-on-one. I thought our guys did a really good job with a somewhat quick turnaround (from Saturday's win over Wyoming), kind of one full day of prep, and really executed pretty well."

Pascarelli and Rechsteiner each had made 42 3-pointers this season, tied for the lead in the Mountain West. Tuesday, Pascarelli finished with 8 points on 4-of-8 shooting (0-for-4 from 3) and Rechsteiner had 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting (1-of-2 from 3-point range).  

For the Lobos (12-3, 3-1 Mountain West), it was the 27th win in Moby Arena — more than any other CSU opponent — and maybe the last for the foreseeable future as the Rams will be leaving the Mountain West after this season to join the rebuilding Pac-12.

Lobo freshman Jake Hall led UNM in the scoring column with 18 points while Antonio Chol (11) and Tajavis Miller (11) each joined him in double figure scoring. Each hit at least three 3-pointers, outshooting the dangerous Rams duo 9-1 from beyond the arc. 

"The coaching staff just did such a great job coming up with a game plan for them," said Hall, UNM's freshman leading scorer. "Obviously those two (Pascarelli and Rechsteiner), they can shoot the heck out of the ball. ... So we knew we wanted to take them away. And we knew their offense wasn't the same and wasn't as explosive without them."

Tomislav Buljan missed his third straight double-double with just eight points, but did have 11 rebounds.

CSU was led by 20 points from 6-8 forward Augustinas Kiudulas, who hit three of the Rams' seven 3-pointers. Jase Butler added 14 points off the CSU bench.

UNM's bench outscored CSU's, 28-21 and the Lobos shot 52.8% overall, including 65.0% in the second half (13-of-20) and was 11-of-25 (44.0%) from beyond the arc. UNM also got 21 points off 14 Rams turnovers.

But as well as the Lobos offense played, the scoring danger of the Rams kept them in it until late in the game, cutting the lead to as few as six points with under 3 minutes to play. 

Much of CSU's offensive success came as a result of UNM's tight perimeter defense leaving the back-door open for a few quick cuts to the rim from CSU guards. 

It was an easy exchange for Olen to accept. 

"We would have liked to not trade baskets and maybe get a few more stops where we could have separated, but that's a good basketball team," Olen said. "They're really well coached. We're on the road. It's not exactly how it works. You don't always just get the total separation and just cruise, especially on the road in this conference."

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