Lobos Rally Without Albury, Dominate George Washington to Reach NIT Quarterfinal
Jake Hall shoots a corner 3-pointer against George Washington in the first half of UNM’s 86-61 quartefinal win. Photo/UNM Athletics.
Next man up.
Playing already with only an 8-man rotation, UNM men’s basketball was down starting guard Deyton Albury in its second round NIT matchup against Geroge Washington with what was reported to be flu-like symptoms.
Antonio Chol suffered a facial facture against Sam Houston and started the game in place of Albury, but had to wear a mask.
UNM employed a next-man up approach, used suffocating defense to clamp down on George Washington to start the second half, and turned what was a 36-32 halftime lead into an 86-61 walloping to advance to the NIT Quarterfinal.
UNM started the second half with a 10-0 run that was fueled by two quick transition 3-pointers for Jake Hall.
“A couple turnovers that led to points. Jake got a little volume there in that spurt. Anytime he gets shots up those are positive possessions for us,” Eric Olen said after the game.
“It was defense to offense and then some shot making, and we took control there to start the second half.”
Hall scored eight of his team high 19 points in the first half, but his early second half 3-pointers ignited a 3-point scoring barrage from the Lobos who went 8-of-15 as a team from deep in the second half after they were only 3-of-12 in the first.
“We felt like the shot quality was pretty good in the first half,” Olen said. “There’s always going to be some of that variance. We believe in these guys shooting the basketball.”
Without Albury in the lineup, UNM relied on freshman guard Uriah Tenette to run the show and make decisions when attacking the basket. Tenette finished with 15 points, six assists and no turnovers.
“He’s playing great basketball,” Olen said. “I want to say that’s four out of five where he’s had six-plus assists and in those four he’s had one turnover. I don’t know what the totals are, but he’s probably had something like 28 assists to one turnover in four out of the last five games.”
Tenette’s last give games including this one, he’s had 29 assists and only 2 turnovers, and has looked like a true distributor with plays like this back-door pass to a cutting Timéo Pons for a slam.
Pons played his first meaningful minutes of the season with an injured Albury and a limited Chol, finishing with five points, three rebounds and one block.
“Really impressed with his readiness,” Olen said. The thing that he did so well, is when he came in the game, he played really hard, you could feel it. He brought energy, he brought some fire and urgency to it…
Even in the first half where he didn’t score, he made some plays defensively. I thought he played the right way good decision making. Loved his shot selection. He got on the offensive glass. He got a block. Just his activity was terrific.”
The Lobos were unable to create permanent separation from George Washington in the first half. Twice UNM built a double digit lead but George Washington’s bench players Trey Denkins and Bubu Benjamin knocked down some contested 3-pointers that kept the Revolutionaries in it.
But GW’s early second half turnovers and UNM’s hot shooting were too much to overcome. The Lobos also outscored George Washington 36-16 in the paint while also pulling down 15 offensive rebounds and 15 second chance points.
Christian Jones led all scorers for GW with 16 points but on 6-of-15 shooting. The Hawks finished the game shooting 33% from the field as a team and 31% from the 3-point line.
Tomislav Buljan chipped in 14 points and nine rebounds, becoming the all-time freshman leader in offensive rebounds with 135 in one season.
UNM will face St. Joseph’s on Tuesday at 7 pm in the Pit in the NIT Quarterfinal.
St. Joseph’s
St. Joseph’s (24-11) came back from being down 19 points at Cal and defeated the Golden Bears 76-75 on the road.
At it’s lowest point with 15:24 left in the second half, ESPN had predicted that St. Joe’s had an only 0.7% chance to win.
St. Joseph’s defied the odds, and outscored Cal 40-20 in the final 15 minutes to steal a win on the road.
The Hawks were led by 6-foot-6 sophomore guard Jaiden Glover-Toscano, who finished with 24 points, nine rebounds and the game saving block.
Glover-Toscano is St. Joseph’s leading scorer at 16 points per game. He looks to be a 3-level scorer who shoots 35% from the 3-point line on high volume, but can also drive the ball to the basket and create his own shot.
St. Joseph’s competed in the Atlantic 10 Conference, the same conference as George Washington, and finished third in the regular season standings with a record of 13-5. The Hawks beat GW 76-73 on Feb. 4.
St. Joseph’s has won 9 of its last 10 games, with its only loss coming to VCU 77-64 in the A10 Quarterfinal. St. Joseph’s defeated Colorado State 69-64 in the first round of the NIT.
