Lobos Erase 22-Point Hole in Statement Road Victory at Fresno State
Jake Hall and JT Rock celebrate after UNM’s 22-point come-from-behind win at Fresno State. Photo: UNM Athletics.
If you watch Lobo basketball and didn’t already know, Jake Hall is that guy.
In a tight one possession game at Fresno State where UNM men’s basketball had to erase a 22-point deficit, the Lobos had the lead 77-76 with 20 seconds, and they needed a bucket to ice the game.
In those moments, you better call Hall.
And he delivered, once again. With the shot clock winding down and a double team coming, Hall drilled a fadeaway on the baseline to give UNM a 79-76 lead and an eventual 80-78 win that kept UNM’s NCAA tournament at-large hopes alive.
According to Grok, and also UNM’s sports information director Steve Kirkland, UNM’s 22 point come back win was the biggest come from behind victory in Lobo history. The previous rally was a 20 point comeback against Hawaii in 1993.
Hall finished the game with 20 points and 4 rebounds, but the funny thing is, he was not even the best player on the floor for UNM.
The catalyst for UNM’s 22-point comeback was senior guard Deyton Albury who finished the game with 21 points to go along with a team-high eight rebounds and 0 turnovers.
Albury impacted the game on both ends, as he became that downhill driver who finished at the rim and got to the free throw line, while also creating the defensive disruption at the point of attack that threw Fresno State’s offense out of sorts after the Bulldogs looked unstoppable in the first half.
“He was unbelievable,” Eric Olen said during his postgame interview on KKOB radio. “That’s as good as we’ve seen Deyton play… That second half where we needed it, I mean what he was going on the glass, around the rim, didn’t turn the ball over. When he plays with competitive fire like that, its different for us and we’re going to need that down the stretch.”
UNM could have used Albury’s tenacity in the first 15 minutes of the game. The Lobos found themselves down 16-3, then 30-14, and finally trailed 40-18 with 5:20 to go in the first half.
Fresno State’s dynamic duo of senior guard Jake Heidbrider and the phenomenal freshman DeShawn Gory couldn’t miss, as the two combined for five made 3-pointers in the first half and also got into the lane and scored at-will.
But the Lobos didn’t panic, they stayed the course and finished the first half on a 14-2 run to cut the lead to 12 going into the break.
Then, there must have been something to the half-time speech Eric Olen gave.
“I don’t want to say too much, but Coach (Olen) got on us a little bit,” Hall said when saying that’s as fiery as Olen has been all season. “He was on his big time, but it was needed, we needed to come out with fire in the second half.”
After Fresno State knocked down 6 of its first 10 shots, the Bulldogs only hit one of their last 12. The Lobos were able to get Gory off his right hand and stop Fresno State’s dribble penetration. Gory finished with 21 points, but did not score another point after the 9:47 mark in the second half.
The Bulldogs shot 44% from the field in the second half after shooting a lights out 67% in the first.
Heidbreder finished the game with a game high 22 points for Fresno State.
UNM arguably lost the physicality battle inside. Tomislav Buljan had one of his worst games of the season, missing several shots at the rim against Fresno State’s 7-footer Wilson Jacques. He scored only 6 points on 2-of-9 shooting and had only 7 rebounds. Jacques finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
The Lobos got a nice second half spark from reserve big-man JT Rock, who had 8 second half points and hit two big 3-pointers for the Lobos that helped erase the 12 point second half deficit.
UNM got some help from Colorado State, who knocked off San Diego State at home 83-74. The Lobos are now tied with the Aztecs for second in the Mountain West, though San Diego State currently owns the tie breaker having beat UNM 83-79 earlier this season.
The Lobos have a short turnaround and will travel to Nevada on Tuesday night for a 9 pm tip-off.
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