March 12, 2005

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The 60-56 victory over 15th-ranked Utah in the MWC Tournament title game gives New Mexico a 26-6 record and sends UNM to the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time in school history and the first time since 1999...it's the first NCAA appearance for Ritchie McKay, who is in his 9th year as a head coach and 3rd season at New Mexico

The Lobos will enter the NCAA Tournament on a 9-game winning streak, the school's longest since the 2000-01 season...UNM has won 12 of its last 13 games since Jan. 29

The 4-point win is just New Mexico's fourth game this season decided by five points or less...UNM is 2-2 in those four games

New Mexico has won five straight games away from Albuquerque and is 8-5 on the road and in neutral games in 2004-05...that's the most wins since the 1997-98 team finished 9-7...UNM entered the current season with a 29-game losing streak in contests away from Albuquerque

Tournament MVP Danny Granger scored a season-high 28 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for his 12th double-double of the season, 20th while at UNM and 31st in his collegiate career...Granger had 18 points and 6 boards in the 1st half

Granger scored the Lobos' final 8 points, including 4 straight FTs (both 1 and 1 situations) in the final 19.4 seconds to secure the victory

Granger finished the tournament with 73 points (24.3 ppg) and 33 rebounds (11 rpg)...he shot 57% (24-42) from the field and 91% (21-23) from the line, plus 11 assists, 9 blocks and 5 steals

Utah has two losses in its last 24 games, both coming against the Lobos...UNM won 65-54 in The Pit on Feb. 21, snapping the Utes' 18-game winning streak

The lineup of David Chiotti, Troy DeVries, Danny Granger, Alfred Neale and Mark Walters has started every game during the 9-game winning streak...the quintet was responsible for all 60 points tonight and all five are still averaging in double figures for the season

New Mexico is now 26-3 when Danny Granger plays, 0-3 when he was out with an injury in mid-January...since the 81-64 loss to Wake Forest on Dec. 22, the Lobos have a 16-1 record when Granger sees action

The 26 wins are the 2nd-most in school history...UNM was 28-5 in 1995-96...it's a 12-win improvement from last year and 16 wins better than 2002-03, Ritchie McKay's first season at UNM...the Lobos won just 24 games combined in McKay's first two seasons

The Lobos are 12-0 this season when holding opponents to less than 60 points

New Mexico won its 3rd conference tournament title...it also won Western Athletic Conference championships in 1993 over UTEP at Salt Lake City and 1996 against Utah in Albuquerque

The Lobos opened with an 11-5 lead before Utah went on a 12-0 run for a 17-11 advantage...UNM's scoreless drought was 7:13 (from 15:23 to 8:10) when it missed 7 shots and committed 4 turnovers...however, New Mexico outscored the Utes 19-7 the rest of the half for a 30-24 lead at the break...Granger scored 13 points during that run

UNM trailed just once in the 2nd half at 49-48, but Alfred Neale's slam off a missed shot on the next possession gave the lead back to the Lobos and they never trailed again

New Mexico was 7 of 18 from 3-point vs. Utah and made 26 of 55 (47%) in the tournament

Alfred Neale scored 41 points in the tournament, drilling 9 of 14 shots from beyond the arc

New Mexico has won 21 straight games when leading at halftime and is 25-1 overall this season...the only loss came at Oregon when UNM led 43-41, but lost 79-75 in the fifth game of the season

Troy DeVries hit a 3-pointer in his 29th straight game, the 2nd-longest streak in school history...Ruben Douglas is 1st at 35...he was 3-8 for the games and now has 147 for his career, tying Lamont Long for 8th all-time at UNM...DeVries has 93 treys this season, No. 5 in the UNM record book

Lobos Men's Basketball

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