NCAA
New Mexico 58, San Diego State 44
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The New Mexico Lobos used a suffocating defense to overwhelm No. 6-ranked San Diego State 58-44 at The Pit on Saturday night.
Forward Cameron Bairstow led all players with 26 points and also pulled down nine rebounds to pace the Lobos (21-5, 12-2 Mountain West).
The Aztecs (23-3, 12-2) shot just 32.3 percent from the field (21-for-65) and simply never got into any kind of rhythm on offense.
The game was only close for the first minute of the second half.
Forward J.J. O’Brien stole the ball and hit a jumper to bring San Diego State within 29-24. The Aztecs would never get any closer.
New Mexico went on a staggering 23-5 run, powered by the inside presence of Bairstow, who scored 14 of those points.
San Diego State did not fare any better stopping the Lobos on the perimeter. After back-to-back Bairstow jumpers made it 33-24, guard Kendall Williams nailed a 3-pointer. After a layup by guard Hugh Greenwood and a dunk by Aztecs forward Dwayne Polee, Williams hit another 3 to make it 41-26.
Bairstow scored the next six points, forcing San Diego State to call a timeout with 12:50 remaining and facing a 21-point deficit.
The best the Aztecs could do was to turn three straight turnovers into baskets, pulling within 52-35, and then go on another mini-run to get within 56-44 late, but it was not enough.
The Lobos led 29-22 at halftime, largely because of an early onslaught by Bairstow, who scored eight of New Mexico’s first 10 points and finished with the half with 10.
San Diego State trailed 23-14 when the third media timeout occurred with 7:02 left in the half. After a 3:30 stretch in which forward Josh Davis’ layup was the only basket for either team, the Aztecs went on a 6-2 run to cut the Lobos’ lead to 23-20.
After the teams traded baskets, New Mexico scored the last four points of the half on center Alex Kirk’s dunk and Williams’ driving layup.
The Aztecs’ only leads of the half were at 2-0 and 4-2. Forward Winston Shepard’s jumper at the 16-minute mark tied the score at 6, but from there it was all New Mexico.
The Lobos went on a 12-4 run to take an 18-10 lead. Bairstow scored six points during the spurt and Kirk, guard Deshawn Delaney and Greenwood also contributed one basket each.
Guard Cullen Neal later added a layup and a 3-pointer to help push the Lobos’ lead to nine points before the third media timeout.
NOTES: The Lobos and Aztecs split their regular-season meetings in each of the last two seasons, but New Mexico won the last two meetings in the conference tournament, the 2012 championship game and a 2013 semifinal. … The Lobos held their last eight opponents anywhere from one to 19 points below their season average, including UNLV to 15.2 points below their average of 71.2 in New Mexico’s 68-56 win in Las Vegas on Wednesday night. … The Aztecs entered Saturday’s game with an .889 winning percentage (8-1) against teams that played in the 2013 NCAA Tournament, the second-best mark in the nation after Arizona (9-1).
