The fans delivered. The moment delivered. The Pit delivered.
And the UNM Lobos delivered, beating San Diego State 81-76 in front of a sold-out crowd Saturday in the final game of the best rivalry in the 27-year history of the Mountain West.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTomislav Buljan scored 24 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to help the Lobos (22-7, 13-5 Mountain West) keep alive their hopes of at least a share of a Mountain West regular season championship with just two games left to play in the regular season.
"I'm really proud of our guys," first-year Lobos coach Eric Olen said. "Terrific response from a disappointing result (Tuesday's loss at Nevada). ... And we could not have got that done without 15,411 of our closest friends.
"I think, think they call those 'Pit games'. That was fun."
San Diego State (19-9, 13-5) led by as many as 11 in the first half, but the Lobos slowly chipped away until making that announced crowd of 15,411 — the first sell out of the season for UNM — erupt with 15:07 remaining when Luke Haupt hit a pair of free throws for a 48-47 lead, the Lobos' first since it was 9-8 early in the first half.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHaupt, a San Diego native who grew up wanting to play for the Aztecs but was never recruited by them, would be instrumental for the Lobos down the stretch of their biggest game to date this season.
The game would remain tight the rest of the way — adding drama to the already intense atmosphere in an arena of fans admittedly feeling a bit bitter about the backstory to the end, at least for now, of such a great rivalry.
San Diego State is one of five teams leaving the Mountain West after this season to form the rebuilt Pac-12 conference — a league UNM was not invited to join. And while both programs will still need to fill nonconference schedules, SDSU coach Brian Dutcher has already said trips to Albuquerque, or anywhere at high elevation, will not be among the schools he ever schedules for non-league matchups in the future.
Luckily the lasting power of Saturday's finishing stretch may carry over for awhile.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWith every free throw missed by the Aztecs (and they missed plenty — SDSU was 13-of-22/59.1% from the line), the crowd seemed to ratchet up their noise.
"It’s a crazy environment, loud in here," Dutcher said. "They know this might be one of the last times SDSU is in the Pit for a very long time, so the crowd was amazing today. You just tip your cap to the Lobos. They really showed their community today."
The Lobos led by six (69-63) with 4:33 left in the game on an aggressive Buljan drive to the basket right at Aztecs 7-foot forward Magoon Gwath, last season's Mountain West Player of the Year.
"I know that Gwath is a vertical athlete, but he's not that strong," Buljan said. "So I knew that I need to play physical against him. If I don't play physical, it's going to be a disaster."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt wasn't a disaster, at least not to Lobo fans.
Buljan's league-leading 12th double-double, tying JT Toppin's UNM freshman record, set a tone for the Lobos throughout. His nine offensive rebounds were more than SDSU's entire roster had (seven) in a game the Lobos out-rebounded the visiting Aztecs 42-36. And UNM's 16-7 advantage in second chance points is the third largest deficit in that stat for SDSU this season with losses to No. 2 Arizona and No. 3 Michigan being the other two.
Still, for all of Buljan's brilliance, this was a nailbiter until the end, not unlike the four-point SDSU win in Viejas Arena on Jan. 17.
A Myles Bird (17 points, 7 rebounds) 3-pointer for SDSU with 3:48 pulled the Aztecs within one at 69-68.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThat was followed by a Uriah Tenette triple for the Lobos, then a a Sean Newman Jr. corner 3-pointer with 2:34 making it 72-71, Lobos.
UNM leading scorer, and another San Diego area native not recruited by the Aztecs, Jake Hall hit a floater in the lane — seconds after fumbling a pass that would have given him a rare, wide-open 3-point look — with 1:28 remaining pushing the Lobos' lead to 74-71. Hall would finish with 14 points, five rebounds and he hit three 3-pointers.
On the ensuing possession, Byrd buried his third 3-pointer of the game, tying things at 74-74 with 1:00 left in the game.
Haupt, who also had one of the primary defensive assignment that held SDSU's leading scorer Reese Dixon-Waters to five points, buried a 3-pointer in front of the Lobos bench with 43 seconds left for a 77-74 Lobos lead.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"I've shot that shot I can't tell you how many times in practice, and even though there's 15,000 screaming in there, it's still the same shot," Haupt said.
Tae Simmons free throws on the other end pulled SDSU within one again at 77-76 with 35.1 left when more drama was inserted into a game that needed no help.
The Lobos struggled to inbounds the ball and when it flew out of Tenette's hands with 31 seconds left against an intense SDSU double team, the Aztecs challenged the call that gave UNM possession. The CBS broadcast seemed to show those watching at home that it should have been the Aztecs' ball.
Instead, the officiating crew confirmed the call, gave possession to UNM and the Lobos. Deyton Albury, who shot 0-for-10 in the game but also had six rebounds and remained instrumental in the Lobos successes in the second half, made a high-leaping catch on a bad Buljan pass (the Lobo big man said the ball slipped out of his hands) on the ensuing Lobos possession, drawing a foul.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"That is not exactly how we drew that up," Olen deadpanned when asked about the poorly thrown pass.
A reporter followed up, "So, how was it drawn up?"
"Differently," Olen said with a grin.
Albury, meanwhile, proceeded to hit two of the four UNM free throws in the final 28.6 that sealed the victory.
"That's the best 0-for-10 performance I think I've ever seen," Olen said. "The jump ball and then knocked down the two free throws to get us up three, like that was a huge play. He had a bunch of traffic rebounds, but I thought specifically second half, defensively, his ball pressure really disrupted what they were trying to do."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementUNM had four players score in double figures: Buljan (24 and those 18 rebounds), Haupt (17 and three steals), Hall (14) and Tenette (10 to go along with five assists).
"I've always wanted to beat these guys. Never had the opportunity, until this year, and you didn't get it done their place," Haupt said. "... I think for anybody playing basketball in San Diego, it's kind of a dream to play there. But again, this has been a dream playing here (at UNM)."
SDSU got 17 from Byrd and 11 apiece from Gwath and B.J. Davis.
Reach Geoff Grammer at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.
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