UNM surges past Saint Joseph's and into NIT semifinals

The UNM Lobos didn't get the three wins in March in Las Vegas that would have gotten them to the NCAA Tournament.

But with the three March home wins they got over the past week,  the Lobos punched their ticket to the NIT semifinals next week in Indianapolis, giving the program one heckuva consolation prize.

Tomislav Buljan had 27 points and 11 rebounds, Jake Hall added 24 points and three 3-pointers and the Lobos beat the Saint Joseph’s Hawks 84-69 in front of an announced Pit crowd of 8,054 on Tuesday night.

“It's a privilege to be playing this time of year. We're going to be one of the last eight teams playing basketball, and that's hard to do, whichever tournament you're in,” first-year coach Eric Olen said. “So, just proud of our guys. … I know we'll have a really good team in the next round and try to do the same thing: Go 1-0 and stay together one more time.”

Tuesday’s win advances the Lobos (26-10) to the NIT semifinals against Tulsa, an 83-79 winner over Wichita State earlier in the night. The semifinal game will be Thursday, April 2, at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

UNM will be playing in its third NIT semifinals (1964, 1990).

Saint Joseph’s, the third-place finishers in the Atlantic 10, end their season with a 24-12 record.

UNM rolled through its first two NIT opponents, Sam Houston and George Washington, by a combined 49 points. And while the final margin against Saint Joseph’s was still large, Tuesday’s quarterfinal was anything but a Lobos runaway. 

After another fast start for the Lobos, the visiting Hawks clawed back and led 39-37 at halftime. It was the first time UNM trailed in the tournament. 

But, after a quick SJU bucket to open the second half, the Lobos went off, scoring 10 straight points to take a 47-41 lead by the 16:48 mark of the half. 

By the time Hall hit his third 3-pointer of the night with 12:15 still left in the game, it was 58-49. It was a lead that, combined with the elevation and the Pit energy, the Hawks stood little chance of overcoming. 

And while the Hawks were heartbroken with their season coming to an end, the experience wasn’t lost on the visiting players.

“You don't expect crowds like that when you go on the road in the NIT,” Saint Joseph’s guard Derek Simpson, who had a team-high 26 points, said. “We've only had 1,000 people in the past two games. It was a great environment to play. We haven't had an environment like this all season. And it was — it was just fun, man. And I'm glad we got to experience this.”

They also got to experience a career night from Buljan. The 23-year-old freshman’s career high scoring night came on 12-of-18 shooting and he recorded his 16th double-double of the season. 

“He’s a helluva player,” Saint Joseph’s coach Steve Donahue said, before heaping praise on Hall.

“Very impressive. I saw him in high school,” Donahue said. “He's the type of kid you like in high school, and they try to (figure out) what level can he be? And sure enough, coach took him from San Diego. He could play at any level. He's legit.”

Deyton Albury returned to the starting lineup, after missing Sunday’s win over George Washington with the flu, to score nine points for UNM.

Simpson’s 26 points came on 6-of-11 three-point shooting and the Hawks hit 9-of-33 from deep overall. UNM outrebounded the visitors 40-33 and were 22-of-28 at the free throw line against a Hawks team that was top five in the country for fewest fouls committed this season. 

Attendance

Tuesday's announced quarterfinal attendance of 8,054 gave UNM a three-game NIT attendance total of 24,547. That's a three-game average of 8,182. The 22 NIT games entering Tuesday night that were not held in the Pit averaged 2,338 in attendance.

Jake's latest record

With a 3-pointer (naturally) with 18:22 left in the first half, Hall scored his fifth point of the game and 566th of the season, setting a new freshman season scoring record for the Mountain West. The previous record of 564 was held by UNLV's Anthony Bennett in the 2012-13 season.

Pit stop

Lobo legend Donovan Dent, who took a pit stop this season at UCLA, made a more fitting Pit stop on Tuesday night and was at the Lobos game.

UNM honored him during a first-half media timeout as new Athletic Director Ryan Berryman presented him with his 2025 Mountain West championship ring from last year.

Braden Appelhans, Dent's close friend and former Lobo teammate, was also at the game and was given his championship ring by UNM earlier in the day. UNM chose not to do a public ceremony for him at the game because Appelhans, who played at Drake this past season, has another year of eligibility and has announced he plans to enter the transfer portal when it opens April 7 and UNM did not want any potential compliance issues to come up as a result.

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