New Mexico tops Marquette to advance in NCAA Tournament

CLEVELAND — Donovan Dent carried his team on his back plenty of times this season.

Friday night in Cleveland, on the biggest stage and biggest game of the UNM season, it was his teammates who lifted the Lobo point guard.

Dent scored 11 of his team-high 21 points, dished out three of his game-high six assists and was the best player on the court in the final 8 minutes, 27 seconds to lead the No. 10 seed UNM Lobos to a 75-66 win over No. 7 Marquette in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“Just in my head, thinking about the wrong stuff, not worrying about the game, letting the moment get to me a little bit,” Dent said of the first 31 minutes of Friday’s game in which the Mountain West’s Player of the Year was sitting on a stat line of 10 points, eight turnovers, three assists and 4-of-12 shooting.

“I think at halftime, coming in here, my teammates all picked me up. That’s one of the best things about this team, they’ll never let you be down. They picked me up big time, and I came out the second half knowing I had to play me.”

UNM’s late-game surge — closing the game by doubling up the Big East’s Golden Eagles 22-11 in the final 8:27, after Marquette took a 55-53 lead — gives the Lobos their first win in the Big Dance since 2012.

Dent had a hand in 17 of those final 22 points, masterfully working the high pick-and-roll time and time again as the Rocket Arena crowd, with a solid contingent of Lobo fans present, began roaring louder and louder sensing the upset brewing.

“Terrific win for our program. We’ve got a lot of respect for Marquette. Shaka (Smart) does an amazing job,” UNM coach Richard Pitino said. “I just thought at the end of the game, we buckled down and got stops. We stopped turning the ball over.

“Donnie really, really — he was struggling a little bit, and we just tried to keep him positive, and he made some huge plays down the stretch. Tru (Washington) was phenomenal. Mustapha (Amzil) had some big rebounds. It was just a team effort all around. Very grateful, very proud. We’ll get a little rest and get back at it tomorrow.”

The Lobos (27-7) play Sunday in the Round of 32 against second-seeded Michigan State, which defeated No. 15 Bryant late Friday night. The second-round game in Cleveland tips off at 6:40 p.m. and will be broadcast on TNT.

And UNM wouldn’t have done it on the usual 1-2 punch of Dent and Nelly Junior Joseph (19 points, seven rebounds) alone.

The “others” as they’ve been referred to at times this season all played a role in Friday’s win.

From Filip Borovicanin’s eight points, five rebounds and pair of first half 3-pointers to C.J. Noland’s 11 points and three first half 3-pointers to Amzil overcoming a poor 0-for-4 shooting night with a game-high eight rebounds, three assists and three steals to Washington scoring 12 points, grabbing six rebounds and coming up with three steals while holding All-American Kam Jones under his season scoring average.

“That’s part of the game,” Amzil said of finding a way to contribute so much despite his shot not falling. “I’ve got to play hard regardless, specifically in March. We lose, we’re going home. I’m not trying to go home. We came here to win games. I’ve got to play hard for us to win here, and we had some other guys who made shots, so I just did my part.”

The Lobos held a 35-32 lead at the break, though they squandered a few opportunities that would have increased their lead.

UNM held Marquette to 37.0% shooting in the first half. At one point the Golden Eagles missed eight consecutive shots and went 6 minutes, 40 seconds without a field goal (they did hit 5 of 8 free throws in the stretch), but UNM was only able to stretch a one-point lead (19-18) to just five (28-23) in that span.

And when Marquette closed the half scoring the final five points and making it a one-possession game, it seemed as though the momentum was on their side.

While Jones was held mostly in check (15 points, 5 assists, 4 turnovers), starting forward David Joplin nearly did the Lobos in himself.

The senior scored 28 points and hit 6-of-10 3-pointers for Marquette (23-11). It was a Joplin triple that pushed Marquette ahead 55-53 with 8:43 left in the game.

Then, Dent began to look like Dent.

“I thought Dent, he just did a great job controlling the game,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. “Our guys did a nice job turning him over — eight times, obviously. But on every other possession when the ball was in his hands, he did a really good job controlling the game. There’s a reason he’s talked about as one of the best point guards in the country. He was the most poised player on the floor.”

Most of the night, but especially late, the Lobos got into the paint with regularity and either finishing at the rim (UNM outscored Marquette 38-26 in the paint), rebounding misses (UNM outrebounded Marquette 36-30) or drawing fouls with their aggressive play (UNM hit 18-of-21 free throws to Marquette’s 7-of-12).

And as happy as the Lobos were, Pitino after the game was asked about what the win might mean to the Lobo fans in the stands and those back home in New Mexico.

”It’s special. It’s a special place. They value basketball,” Pitino said. “I’ve talked a lot about it. It’s a generational thing. We are the pro team to our fans. So, the ones that were watching, amazing. Hopefully, we see some more on Sunday.”

BOX SCORE: UNM 75, Marquette 66

Marquette vs. New Mexico, NCAA Tournament first round: Photos