UNM MEN'S BASKETBALL
Lobos roll into semifinal showdown with Aztecs
Hot shooting sparks UNM to win over San Jose State in quarterfinals
Published
Thursday night was but a formality, setting up a seeming inevitable matchup Friday night.
The UNM Lobos and San Diego State Aztecs — and their thousands of traveling fans — will have one more showdown in the Thomas & Mack Center, this time in the semifinals of the Mountain West Tournament. Each team needs a win to keep any hope of an NCAA Tournament appearance alive.
To get there, Tomislav Buljan rattled off a 25-point, 14-rebound double-double and Jake Hall hit five 3-pointers and scored 19 points to lead the No. 3 Lobos (23-9) to a comfortable 93-77 win over No. 11 San Jose State (9-24) in Thursday’s late-night quarterfinal finale.
Lobo freshman Uriah Tenette got a rare start and made the most of it. The 5-foot-11 point guard has eight points, nine assists and three steals, putting one of about a dozen exclamation marks on the game with an alley-oop dunk to put the Lobos up 81-62 with just under six minutes to go against a thoroughly gassed Spartans squad.
SJSU, which upset No. 6 Boise State on Wednesday night to get to the quarterfinals, were led by Colby Garland with 20 points and seven assists. But the shorthanded Spartans, with six players listed as "out" due to injuries on the pregame availability report, were struggling throughout the second half as the Lobos comfortably moved the ball around.
UNM outrebounded SJSU 38-24, shot 58.5% in the game and 67.7% in the second half.
No. 2 San Diego State (21-10) stymied seventh-seeded Colorado State 71-62 to advance on the Lobos’ half of the bracket.
SDSU and CSU — along with Utah State, Boise State and Fresno State — are playing in the Mountain West Tournament for the final time. Those schools will depart for the rebuilt Pac-12 next season.
The Lobos and the Aztecs have the two most successful men’s basketball programs in the history of the conference. They split the regular-season series this year, each team winning on its home court.
Lineup change
After 19 consecutive games with the same starting lineup, UNM Lobos head coach Eric Olen swapped in Tenette for the struggling 6-9 wing Antonio Chol.
Aside from Chol’s recent struggles, however, the move was clearly a matchup issue as SJSU’s smaller guards — Garland (6-0) and Jermaine Washington (6-1) gave UNM issues in the two regular-season games. This starting lineup allowed Tenette and Deyton Albury (6-3) to get the defensive assignments from the opening tip.
The other quarterfinals
On the other half of the bracket, top-seeded Utah State beat No. 8 UNLV, 80-60. Mountain West Player of the Year Mason Falslev scored 24 points to go along with nine rebounds, three assists and three steals.
They play No. 5 Nevada in Friday's first semifinal game. The Wolf Pack beat No. 4 Grand Canyon, 84-80, in a game Nevada hit 36 of 45 free throws. Corey Camper Jr. scored 27 points for Nevada.
SDSU held off CSU despite hitting just 22 of 42 (52%) free throws. The Aztecs led most of the way and leaned on their defense to keep the Rams at arms’ length down the stretch.
Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.
