Lobos top Wolf Pack, move into tie for second in Mountain West

Deyton Albury took the pass on the left elbow in front of his own bench.

Having hit just 1-of-7 shots to that point of the game, Nevada's defender backed off as the Lobos starting point guard took a step toward the rim before stopping on a dime just inside the arc.

The Lobos senior point guard drained a step back 3-pointer with 2:29 left in the game, extending the Lobos' lead to seven — 74-67 — and leading Nevada coach Steve Alford to call a timeout.

The former Lobos coach knew all too well what the moment meant.

The announced Pit crowd of 14,639 was on the verge of driving a nail in the visiting team's coffin and Nevada needed one last reset to try and avoid the inevitable.

Out of the timeout, Nevada's Tayshawn Comer missed a 3-pointer on a well drawn up, and well defended play, and Lobo big man Tomislav Bujan secured the rebound and the Lobos coasted down the stretch to an 80-73 win over Nevada, moving into a second place tie in the Mountain West standings.

"I was impressed with Nevada and the way that they played, really good basketball team. (I) thought that was pretty good college basketball game," said UNM coach Eric Olen, who, unlike the past two Lobo coaches, was able to win his first game against Alford, one of the most successful UNM coaches in the program's history.

UNM (16-4 overall, 7-2 Mountain West) extends its home win streak to 23 in a row, including 12-0 this season. That is tied for the fifth longest active home win streak in the country and is the third longest in UNM history — longer than any under the coaching eras of either Alford or Nevada Associate Head Coach Craig Neal.

But what about that Albury 3-pointer?

"I'm glad it went in," Olen said.

OK, but before it did, were you happy with the shot selection considering he had struggled shooting on Saturday and with a lead, the Lobos could have opted to spend more time running down clock on that possession?

"I'm glad he made it," Olen said with a sly grin.

For the Lobos, it was one of 12 3-pointers that went in on the night (12-of-28 from 3, 42.9%) — besting the visiting Wolf Pack 36-18 from the 3-point line. Nevada, who entered the game leading the Mountain West in 3-point shooting percentage in league play at better than 42%, was held to just 6-of-23 from deep on Saturday (26.1%).

For the Wolf Pack (14-6 overall, 6-3 Mountain West), the loss is the fifth in a row to the Lobos — the longest active losing streak vs. any Mountain West team — and came despite a phenomenal first half defensive effort that held the Lobos to just 29.4% shooting.

Jake Hall led four Lobos scoring in double figures with 19 points and five made 3-pointers. Tomislav Buljan had an 11-point, 15-rebound double-double for the Lobos while Nevada threw double teams at him all game, Olen noted he was happy with Buljan's patience and decision making out of those double teams.

"We felt like every time they doubled, we were getting quality shots," Olen said.

Buljan also drew eight fouls, including several on Nevada star big man Elijah Price. The sophomore forward had eight points, five rebounds, three blocks and a steal in a first half that was limited to 10 minutes because he drew three fouls. By game's end, he had 16 points, 11 rebounds, blocked six shots and had three steals, but never seemed as dominant in his 18 second half minutes as in those 10 first half ones.

Corey Camper led Nevada with 20 points and the Wolf Pack outrebounded UNM 42-38. But UNM's 13 offensive boards led to a 17-7 advantage in second chance points and the Lobos also scored 20 points off 12 Nevada turnovers.

Uriah Tenette (13 points, five assists, two steals) and JT Rock (11 points in just under nine minutes on the court) joined Hall and Buljan in double figure scoring.

Hall's second of his five 3-pointers in the game set a new Lobo freshman record for made 3s in a season. He now has 59 through 20 games. Kendall Williams had the previous record of 55 in 35 games played.

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