New Mexico
Nevada basketball: New Mexico edges Nevada, 71-67, in Wolf Pack’s home finale
Nevada showed much more fight than it did the last time time out, but the Wolf Pack was facing the conference’s top team — and one of the best players — and came up a bit short in the home finale.
It didn’t help that New Mexico’s standout player was on fire New Mexico edged Nevada, 71-67, in front of 7,881 fans at Lawlor Events Center on Tuesday night.
Nevada had two players score 15 points each, Kobe Sanders and Nick Davidson, and Tyler Rolison had 12 as the Wolf Pack dropped to 16-14 overall, 8-11 in the Mountain West. Xavier DuSell had nine points as he made two 3-pointers and needs one more to tie the all-time Mountain West record for made 3-pointers.
Donovan Dent was on fire for New Mexico as he poured in 32 points, on 12-of-18 shooting from the field. He was the only Lobos player in double figures. Nelly Junior Joseph had nine points and 14 rebounds as they improved to 24-6 overall, 16-3 in the Mountain West.
New Mexico clinched at least a share of the Mountain West regular-season title and will be the No. 1 seed for next weeks tournament in Las Vegas (March 12-15).
Nevada will be the No. 7 seed for the tournament and play on Wednesday, March 12 against either Fresno State or Air Force.
DuSell said Dent is a good player and the Wolf Pack was trying to make him pass the ball more.
“He got loose early and got some momentum early,” DuSell said. “If we see him in the tournament, we have to do a better job of not letting him get hot early.”
New Mexico beat Nevada, 71-67, on Tuesday in the Pack final home game.
New Mexico beat Nevada, 71-67, on Tuesday night in the final home game of the season for the Wolf Pack.
Key to the game
Nevada was 13-of-20 from the free throw line, but New Mexico was not much better, converting 16-of-22.
But Nevada was just 5-of-10 from the stripe in the second half. Sanders missed the front end of one-and-one’s twice in the final three minutes.
The Lobos held a slight advantage in rebounding, 37-34, a stat that doomed the Wolf Pack in its loss at UNLV last Friday.
Nevada outscored the Lobos, 30-20 in the paint.
The Wolf Pack was 4-of-29 from 3-point range while the Lobos were 9-of-27.
The Seniors
Nevada has six seniors, five of whom were honored before the game: Tre Coleman, KJ Hymes, Kobe Sanders, Xavier DuSell and Brandon Love. Daniel Foster is also a senior, but he was honored at last season’s senior night, before deciding to return to the Pack.
“We appreciate from a coaching standpoint, all they have done for us,” Nevada coach Steve Alford said. “On the court. Off the court. In the community. They have been terrific and represented us the way we want to be represented. We didn’t get as many wins as we would have like this year, but hopefully something is still left in the tank.”
First half
New Mexico led, 41-38 at the break as Dent had 20 points in the first half.
Nevada hit 2-of-10 from 3-point range in the first half, while New Mexico was 7-of-14 from the arc.
The Wolf Pack made 8-of-10 free throws, to 6-of-9 for the Lobos.
Up Next
Nevada concludes the regular season at San Diego State. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
The Aztecs played at UNLV later Tuesday night.
Nevada’s Remaining Schedule
- March 8, Nevada at San Diego State, 7:30 p.m. (TV: FS1, Radio: 95.5 FM)
- March 12-15 Mountain West Conference men’s tournament, at Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas.
Mountain West Schedule
Friday’s games: Colorado State at Boise State; UNLV at New Mexico.
Saturday’s games: Nevada at San Diego State; Air Force at Utah State; Fresno State at San Jose State.
Grant’s Thursday Evening Forecast
Showers and thunderstorms will continue in eastern New Mexico tonight into Friday. Breezy winds will bring an elevated fire danger in the western half of the state.
Thunderstorms are firing up Thursday afternoon along and east of New Mexico’s central mountain chain while gusty south winds over 30 mph are driving an elevated fire danger across western parts of the state. Storms will continue spreading across eastern New Mexico through this evening, bringing locally heavy rainfall, lightning, small hail, and gusty winds. The winds will weaken later tonight, but showers and thunderstorms will keep going across eastern New Mexico overnight into early Friday morning.
A few spotty storms will redevelop Friday afternoon across eastern New Mexico, with a couple near the Texas state line capable of turning strong to severe. At the same time, breezy southwest winds will ramp back up across western New Mexico, with gusts over 35 mph creating another round of elevated fire danger. Storms will push east out of New Mexico Friday evening while winds gradually ease overnight.
Quieter and drier weather takes over this weekend. Temperatures Saturday afternoon will cool a few degrees but still stay near average for late May. Breezy afternoon winds will continue Saturday before lighter winds and warmer temperatures return Sunday.
Moisture will start building back into eastern New Mexico Monday, bringing a slight chance for thunderstorms near the Texas state line. Monday will also be the hottest day of the warming trend statewide. More moisture spreads into the eastern half of the state Tuesday, increasing storm chances along and east of the Rio Grande Valley by afternoon. Even deeper moisture arrives statewide by Wednesday and Thursday, fueling more widespread showers and thunderstorms through the middle of next week.
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Skies are partly to mostly clear with most similar or slightly milder than yesterday. Winds are a little breezy occasionally with the highest humidity values mostly from out east and to the north.
Air temperatures in the north are mostly starting off in the 30s to the low 50s. Elsewhere to the south, air temperatures are mostly ranging from around the high 30s to the low 60s.
Many areas from eastern New Mexico to the Pecos River Valley area will range from the high 60s to the 80s from north to south from high to low elevation. The northern higher elevations will mostly range from the high 40s to near 60°, while the northern valley floors to western and central areas will mostly range from the high 70s to the low 90s.
Southerly upper-level winds, in combination to the low-level moisture still lingering around the northern high elevations to out east, will lead to few thunderstorms capable of producing brief bouts of heavy rain, small hail, some lightning, & gusty conditions.
Ridging in the jet stream will then allow for clearer conditions, drier air, and for temperatures to rebound for the remainder of the week. However, slightly more thunderstorms will form for some eastern and mountainous areas late in the week, resulting in outflow-southeasterly winds to occasionally pick up.
Even hotter air returns late this weekend into early next week before thunderstorms are more likely to form next week.
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