Lobos Roll in Pit, Pokes Put up Little Fight

The Cowboys put together an uninspired effort against New Mexico on Saturday. On the bright side for Wyoming fans, nobody got ejected…

There were no brawls, no ejections and no technical fouls.

But that was about the only thing that went right for Wyoming.

J.R. Giddens put up a career-high 36 points and hauled in 11 rebounds to lead New Mexico to a 100-55 victory Saturday night, handing the Cowboys their worst loss of the season.

The last time the two teams faced in Albuquerque—a Feb. 1, 2007 contest which the Lobos won 91-83—Wyoming’s Brandon Ewing got tangled up late in the game with New Mexico’s Jamaal Smith and a fist-fight ensued, resulting in the suspension of five different players, including the immediate ejection of Ewing, Smith and Wyoming’s Brad Jones.

But this time around, there didn’t seem to be much fight at all in the Pokes, who fell to 9-13 overall and 2-7 in the Mountain West Conference.

Giddens got things going early and never let up, opening the game with a 3-pointer and scoring seven more points as the Lobos took a commanding 29-9 lead. He finished the first half with 21 points, and UNM led 50-34 at the break.

The last 20 minutes of the game were even worse for the Cowboys, who couldn’t find a way to slow down New Mexico’s star wing man. Giddens put up 15 more points in the second half and drew enough defensive attention to open things up for the rest of the Lobos.

Smith, who rebounded from last year’s fight to torch the Pokes for 24 points during their first meeting of 2008 more than a month ago, hit a pair of second-half 3-pointers on Saturday, finishing with 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting. Chad Toppert came off the bench to hit five more 3-pointers en route to an 18-point performance, and Daniel Faris added 11 points for the Lobos.

Gidden’s jumper with 11:40 to play sparked a 13-0 run that saw UNM take a commanding 30-point lead. Toppert hit back-to-back 3-pointers eight minutes later to push the advantage to 91-51, and Smith added another from beyond the arc at the 1:40 mark. Monquel Pegues’ free throws with just more than a minute remaining gave the Lobos an even 100.

After coming into Saturday’s game worst in the MWC in turnovers, Wyoming continued to have problems taking care of the ball against UNM, coughing it up 10 times in the first 11 minutes. The Pokes finished the game with 23 turnovers, 12 of which came from Jones and Ewing.

Jones managed to score 13 points to lead Wyoming, and Tyson Johnson added 10, marking the fourth straight game that the junior college transfer has scored in double figures for the Pokes.

But New Mexico shut down Ewing, who finished with just six points on 1-of-9 shooting after putting up 15 points and seven assists against the Lobos last month in Laramie.

It was by far the worst performance of the season by the Cowboys, who posted a pair of 27-point losses to San Diego State and Texas Christian early in conference play.

Meanwhile, the Lobos, who were fresh off a 40-point home victory over Colorado State Tuesday night, eclipsed the 100-point mark for the first time sine a 101-96 win over Pepperdine Dec. 29, 2006. At 18-6, they have now won three more games than they did all of last season.