King of Havoc: Jake Hall Silences the Globe and Rewrites the MWC Record Books
New Mexico’s Jake Hall (23) celebrate’s after making a three-point shot agaisnt Grand Canyon on Wednesday night 2/12/2026 in Phoenix, AZ. Photo: UNM Athletics
Jake Hall may have been the biggest ‘havoc’ in Global Credit Union Arena Wednesday night.
If it wasn’t for his late game step-back jumper that put the Lobos up three with 20 seconds to go, then the night would've belonged to the other 2,000 Havocs sitting court side.
For much of the first half, the Lobos executed in the halfcourt beautifully, finding runs at the rim and moving the ball around the perimeter to find open shooters. They jumped out to an early 11-0 lead by attacking the rim and drawing early fouls to get to the free throw line.
Carrying the scoring load in the first half was Hall (12 points) and Antonio Chol (10 points) - to many’s pleasant surprise. Chol has been in a scoring funk as of late, but had a breakthrough knocking down two early 3-pointers.
But it was Jake Hall’s second three of the half at the 8:44 mark that shined the brightest and inked his name in the Mountain West Conference’s record books - he made his 76th three-point shot of the season which makes him the All-Time Mountain West Freshman leader. The previous record was Rashad Muhammad of San Jose State 2014-15.
And then there was that UNM defense that came into this game so highly regarded (they’re ranked 3rd best in the MW at allowing 69.8 pts/game), although it had slipped over the last two-game stretch. The Lobos held the Lopes to an abysmal 16.7% shooting from the three-point line and 31.3% FG in the first half.
The Lopes leading scorer Jaden Henley (6th in the MWC) was only able to generate five points on 2-9 shooting. The Lobo defense looked impenetrable, closing out gaps to force six Lopes turnovers, contesting outside shots, and defending the ball-screens well. The Lopes frustration grew and forced GCU head coach Bryce Drew to use his third timeout of the half to stop the bleeding.
By the 4:00 minute mark in the first half, the Lobos lead ballooned to 20 and UNM was very much in the driver’s seat.
However, the Lopes found some life and put together their own 7-0 run over a four-minute stretch to cut the lead to 13 with a layup by GCU stretch-big Nana Owusu-Anane to close out the half.
That late-half Lobo lapse would ultimately carry over into the second half where GCU took full advantage and used their length and physicality to change the game.
New Mexico head coach, Eric Olen joined Tom Mosser on ‘Another Night in the Mountain West’ postgame and said “...in the second half, [GCU’s] physicality on the ball really bothered us and we weren't able to get [the ball] moving like we did in the first 16 minutes, we felt like our ball movement was really hurting them… I just thought their aggressiveness and physicality really flipped the game.”
GCU came out in the second half and threw the first punch - and then threw another. The Lopes would go on an 8-0 run over a 3 minute stretch at the 11:10 mark and then a 7-0 run a minute later. A once 20-point lead gone in a blink. And all of a sudden, the shocked Havoc faithful found their voice again.
Makaih Williams, who finished with 20 points, would blow by a UNM defender for a layup at the 9:29 mark to take the first GCU lead of the game. Williams, Brian Moore Jr., and Jaden Henley would combine for 35 points in the second half alone. Their approach on beating UNM’s defense changed - instead of using ball screens, GCU would space the floor and go one-on-one with Lobo defenders.
“They made a good adjustment,” Olen said on Another Night in the Mountain West. “They put their five in the dunker spot and really just went at us one on one. It was an adjustment for us. Their spacing was good. We weren’t able to shrink the floor the floor the way we would have liked. We gave up some straight line drives and put our bigs in difficult situations…”
Later in the second half, UNM went to a zone defense to protect the paint and limit GCU’s ability to penetrate. The Lobos limited the Lopes to only two points in the final 6:11 of the game.
In the closing moments, Jake ‘Havoc’ Hall took over.
Hall, who led both teams in scoring with 23 points, backed down his defender [Owusu-Anane] in the paint and hit a soft jumper to take a 63-62 lead with 2:52 left in the game. He would then follow that up with what would be the play of the game; a step-back jumper on the baseline to put the Lobos up three with 29 seconds to play.
“… credit [Jake Hall] for making the step-back with a guy in his face, and making another one on Nana [Owusu-Anane] who’s one of our better defenders, he posted him up and scored on him in the paint, GCU head coach Bryce Drew said after the game. “Players make plays to win games, and he just made more plays than us.”
UNM would get another stop on the defensive end and close out the game at the charity stripe.
Notable:
Antonio Chol - 12 points
Tomislov Buljan - 12 points and 9 rebounds
Deyton Albury - 9 points, 3 rebounds, 4 turnovers
Luke Haupt - 0 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists
