The Lobos returned to The Pit after their victory over the Washington State Cougars with a 91-86 loss to the Arizona State Sun Devils in the final exhibition game before the regular season. The Lobos found themselves down by as many as 23 points, unable to complete a comeback despite a late rally.
Lobo forward Flynn Lastring started the scoring with a three-pointer and began a first period that saw the Lobos and Sun Devils play evenly through the first 12 minutes. The Lobos jumped out to a 12-5 lead, but they were unable to sustain their strong play on both sides of the ball.
The Sun Devils went on a run in which they outscored the Lobos 23-7, highlighted by a game-tying jump shot from ASU guard Dillan Shaw and a go-ahead three from fellow ASU guard Joel Foxwell.
Arizona State’s offense remained relentless in the first half, continuing to tack on with excellent shooting as the Sun Devils had a field goal percentage over 50% at halftime, with a jump shot in the final moments of the half from Foxwell serving as the exclamation point on a 41-28 first half for ASU.
“We forced 41 threes, we won the paint 46-8, I’m more encouraged by this one defensively than the others,” UNM Head Coach Eric Olen said after the game.
This was in stark contrast to the Lobos who shot just 30 percent (10/30) in the first half and went just 2/11 from distance. The inability to finish possessions with points was the biggest reason why UNM was outscored 36-16 after they had jumped out to a lead.
The second half began with Sun Devil forward Emmanuel Innocenti knocking down a long ball in a period that started as more of the same. The Lobos were unable to keep the Sun Devils off the board. This meant that although the Lobos’ 11 made field goals halfway through the second period were more than they made in the entire first half, ASU maintained a lead of about 20 points for a majority of the second half.
The Lobos refused to go quietly though, hitting their stride with about seven minutes left to play and going on a 20-5 run highlighted by a dunk from UNM guard Hudson Mayes, getting the Lobos back within six and had The Pit shaking.
“We feel like we have an explosive offensive team — we have to figure it out defensively so we give ourselves a chance to make our run, because we always feel like that’s coming,” Olen said.
The Lobos would get as close as within four points, but their eight missed second-half free throws came back to bite them as the Sun Devils held off UNM’s comeback and hung on to win 91-86.
The Lobos will be back at The Pit to start the regular season on Monday, Nov. 2 against the Utah Tech Trailblazers.
“We’re excited; we’ve been here since June preparing for next week specifically — this one counts and matters,” Mayes said.
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Marley Herndon is a beat reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on X @Dailylobo