Senior special: Cumber's late heroics lead UNM past Utah State

Senior Day.

At the Pit.

Was there ever a question who’d step up?

After trailing for nearly three quarters, senior guard Viané Cumber scored 10 of her team-high 20 points in the fourth to lead New Mexico past Utah State in a closer-than-expected 73-65 Senior Day win.

Cumber, one of UNM’s three seniors honored in a pregame ceremony, connected on back-to-back threes with 4:39 left to put the Lobos (16-12, 9-6 Mountain West) ahead for good, 63-58, after a slow start.

Even after an uncharacteristic missed free throw late, the Albuquerque native and Sandia High School graduate went on to drill her final three with 2:32 remaining, a shot that proved to be the dagger against an Aggies (2-25, 1-14) team eyeing its first win in 17 games against UNM.

“I hadn’t made a shot all night,” Cumber said in a postgame news conference after the Lobos’ third-straight win. “(But) I just had to keep believing in myself and taking the shots that I know I can make.”

“(Cumber) came up big in the fourth quarter,” head coach Mike Bradbury added. “She had good shots (before) — she just didn’t make any of them up until that point … If we were going to win, some of those were gonna have to go in.”

And for the better part of three quarters, UNM largely struggled to do so.

The Lobos trailed 13-9 after a messy first quarter that saw them shoot 21.4% from the field with just one made three, courtesy of freshman guard Nayli Padilla.

UNM outscored Utah State 19-15 in the second quarter, but 16 first-half turnovers — some against the Aggies’ press, some not — only compounded the shooting struggles for a Lobos team that was fortunate to be tied, 28-28, with Utah State at the half.

“We had even before the game — in the locker room, pregame speech, all that — just kind of a glazed-over look,” Bradbury said. “Like they were excited to play, but our focus wasn’t there.”

After halftime, Cumber started to find her groove with seven third-quarter points (she scored only three in the first half). And UNM turned it over only five times in the second half, perhaps the biggest difference in the game.

The only problem? Utah State was finding plenty of answers, with senior guard Cheyenne Stubbs scoring 12 in the third quarter.

Down 53-48 entering the fourth quarter, the Lobos’ messaging wasn’t complicated.

“We just had to start playing defense,” Cumber said.

“We didn’t guard them at all,” Bradbury said of the third quarter. “We did change the ball screen defense, and we stopped trying to trap (Utah State). … That allowed us to keep the ball in front of us a little better so we could challenge shots.”

Those adjustments and a rejuvenated defensive effort put UNM in position to surge in the fourth quarter, with Cumber keying the Lobos’ decisive 9-0 run. Her last three put the Lobos ahead 69-61, a major strike to help assure she’d walk off the floor with fellow seniors Hulda Joaquim (team-high 10 rebounds, eight points) and Amhyia Moreland (three points, seven rebounds) on top.

The late 3 also got perhaps the biggest roar from the crowd of any shot all afternoon.

“Our local fans are crazy, and they’ve shown me love ever since I’ve been here .... It just goes to show how lucky we are to have the fans that we have,” Cumber said. “Because a lot of people don’t get this around the country.

“That meant a lot to me, from the bottom of my heart, and I hope they continue to support our program, and I hope they continue to show up.”

The Lobos hit the road for two games next week — Wednesday at Wyoming and Saturday at Fresno State — before closing the regular season with a home game March 4 against Air Force.

Lobos 73, Aggies 65

NEW MEXICO (16-12, 9-6 Mountain West)

Cumber 6-17 5-13 21, Magalhães, 4-7 0-0 14, Hooks 5-18 0-14 12, Padilla 3-5 2-3 10, Joaquim 4-6 0-0 8, Hargrove 3-7 0-2 6, Moreland 1-4 0-0 3. Totals 26-66 7-23 73.

UTAH STATE (2-25, 1-14 Mountain West)

Stubbs 9-20 2-6 21, Heaton 5-17 0-7 13, Latta 3-9 3-9 9, Logwood 3-8 0-1 7, Sene 1-6 0-1 4, Tarver 1-7 1-3 4, Tandeo 1-2 0-0 3, Johnson 1-2 0-0 2, Livingston 1-2 0-1 2. Totals 25-73 6-28 65.

New Mexico 9 19 20 25 — 73

Utah State 13 15 25 12 — 65

3-point FGs—UNM 7-23 (Cumber 5-13, Padilla 2-3); USU 6-28 (Latta 3-9, Stubbs 2-6, Tarver 1-3). Rebounds—UNM 53 (Joaquim 10, Hargrove 9, Moreland 7, Magalhães 6, Cumber 6, Hooks 4, Padilla 4, Jordan 2, Lauro 1); USU 38 (Stubbs 7, Heaton 6, Sene 6, Tarver 4, Latta 4, Livingston 3, Logwood 1). Steals—UNM 7 (Hooks 2, Hargrove 2, Magalhães 1, Padilla 1, Moreland 1); USU 14 (Heaton 4, Tarver 3, Latta 3, Logwood 2, Sene 1, Stubbs 1). Blocks—UNM 8 (Moreland 4, Lauro 1, Padilla 1, Magalhães1, Joaquim 1); USU 4 (Latta 2, Logwood 1, Johnson 1). Turnovers—UNM 21, USU 15. Team fouls—UNM 14, USU 19. Fouled out—UNM 1 (Moreland). Technical fouls—None.