Lobos Reach 20 Wins, Tighten Grip on Third in Mountain West with Rout of Air Force
UNM’s starting five from left to right: Luke Haupt, Antonio Chol, Tomislav Buljan, Deyton Albury, and Jake Hall. Photo: UNM Athletics.
Air Force was not popping any NCAA tournament bubbles in the Pit this season.
UNM men’s basketball used a dominating offensive performance to shoot the Falcons (3-23) out of the gym, and coast to a 98-61 victory for their 20th win of the season.
With the win and with San Diego State and Nevada both losing on Tuesday night, UNM (20-6) is in firm control of third place in the Mountain West standings and just one game back of the Aztecs for second.
The Lobos drilled 15 3-pointers against Air Force, which was their highest 3-point total of the conference season and the most against any Division I opponent.
Leading the 3-point barrage was forward Antonio Chol, who finished with a season high 20 points by knocking down 5 of his 10 3-point shots.
“Nothing changed, they just went in the basket,” Chol said. “The staff really believed in me. They were like just keep shooting, your time is coming…”
Chol has now had two bounce back games after scoring 12 points against GCU to break out of a mid-conference season slump where he averaged just 3 points per game against San Jose State, Utah State, and Boise State.
The 98 points scored by UNM ties a season high it scored against Santa Clara back on Dec. 6. Three other Lobos scored in double-figures, including Jake Hall who chipped in 16 and has now scored in double figures in 12 straight games, which is the second longest streak by a Lobo freshman.
UNM also experimented with playing its two bigs JT Rock and Tomislav Buljan together on the court for the first time this season for about a 6 minute stretch. The duo combined for 19 points, 14 rebounds, and four blocked shots.
“I kind of like the big-big lineup,” Deyton Albury said who finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and six assists. “In practice it was actually working good, too. I was actually not on that squad, I was on the opposing squad and the way those guys were rebounding and just the energy that comes with playing with those two bigs is crazy so, I’d like to see it.”
Air Force kept pace with UNM for the first 13 minutes of the first half. The Falcons knocked down four 3-pointers early, including back-to-back 3-pointers for Air Force guard Ethan Greenburg that forced Eric Olen to take a timeout with nine minutes in the half with Lobos up only 24-20.
The Lobos put their foot on the gas starting at the 7 minute mark. A 3-pointer from Antonio Chol pushed the lead to seven, and UNM closed the first half on a 23-7 run.
“I thought they did a good job early of attacking the baseline,” Eric Olen said. “They got a lob over the top of the rim. They beat the help and we had to bring a third and they sprayed it for a three. We felt like we weren’t really affecting them much.”
“We weren’t able to disrupt them as much as we wanted to. We forced a bunch of turnovers against them the first time. We tried to replicate that but they did a good job of taking care of the ball and we were able to still win the possessions because we did a good job on the glass.”
Air Force was led by freshman guard Kam Sanders who finished with 13 points.
UNM outrebounded Air Force 48-23 and dominated every statistical category in this game. The Lobos got 33 points from its bench, led by JT Rock who fouled out with 12 points.
UNM will now start a two-game road trip beginning with Fresno State on Saturday at 6 pm mountain time. The Bulldogs just fell 92-82 on the road to Wyoming.
