Mountain West Tournament: Lobos blast Air Force to set up rematch with Boise State

Mar. 13—LAS VEGAS, Nev. — There was no Pit pain this time.

Three and a half weeks after Air Force delivered a gut-punch upset of the Lobos in Albuquerque, JT Toppin had 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead an absolutely dominant performance in the paint by sixth-seeded UNM in a nearly wire-to-wire 82-56 win over the Falcons on Wednesday night in the opening round of the Mountain West Tournament.

With the win, the Lobos (23-9) advance to Thursday's quarterfinals against No. 3 Boise State (22-9) and a Broncos team that swept them in the regular season.

The Lobos may be playing for their NCAA Tournament lives as most bracket projections have UNM in a group of about eight teams squarely on the bubble.

UNM head coach Richard Pitino was happy to be able rest starters late in the game against Air Force.

"All-around, a really good 40-minute effort, and it was good to be able to play some guys going into the bench a little bit because obviously we're trying to do what every other team is trying to do here and win three more," Pitino said.

With the Boise State coaching staff sitting courtside scouting the Lobos, UNM played like they had been in January when a five-game win streak had them looking like a lock to end the program's 10-year NCAA Tournament drought.

Consider some of the stat sheet highlights:

—Balanced scoring (10 Lobos scored, four in double figures)

—UNM's 26-point margin of victory is team's largest in a MW Tournament game

—UNM outrebounded Air Force 45-24 and had a 16-4 advantage in offensive rebounds

—UNM had 21 assists and just nine turnovers

—UNM scored 20 points off 14 Air Force turnovers

—The Lobos outscored Air Force 50-24 in the paint.

"Well, we wanted to disrupt," Pitino said. "I think if you let Air Force run their offense and you let them be comfortable, they can pick you apart. They've done it to us obviously in the past. We were really, really aggressive trying to turn them over.

"Then we knew whenever we've been good versus Air Force, we've had to go inside because they're going to switch everything (defensively on the perimeter), and they're going to be physical with you. We wanted to go inside. We wanted to get to the free-throw line. So credit to our guys to be able to go in there or throw it in there."

Falcons coach Joe Scott said there was no secret about what UNM, a high-pressure defense and up-tempo offense does well versus what Air Force (which plays a deliberately slow offense) does well would be the key.

The Lobos thrive off turning teams over and turning those turnovers into points.

UNM scored 26 points off 18 turnovers in its 19-point win (85-66) in Clune Arena on the U.S. Air Force Academy on Jan. 20. In the Feb. 24 loss (78-77) in the Pit, the Lobos scored just seven points off just eight Air Force turnovers.

Wednesday, UNM scored 20 points off 14 Air Force turnovers and had the game in hand early enough to go deep into their bench midway through the second half.

"We talked about that at length with our guys, whether it was film, practice, just the differences between the two games," Scott said.

"We said, here, look, turnover, lead-outs. They go directly to points. Then offensive rebounding. Those were the two things. That was our focus, and the reason is because when they play well, that's sort of the way the game goes. Obviously when we play well, that's not the way the game goes, and it's really about your consistency as a team in that approach."

The only Lobo who reached 30 minutes of playing time on Wednesday was Donovan Dent (30:06), and Pitino admitted that was only because the sophomore had eight points and nine assists and he gave Dent a few more minutes to try to get that 10th assist.

Toppin added two steals and altered shots around the rim in addition to his double-double, in the game after he won both the media and coaches Freshman of the Year awards.

Air Force star forward Rytis Petraitis, who had a monster game of his own with 26 points, 10 rebounds and drew 10 fouls, described the matchup with Toppin as "frustrating," adding "he's just stronger than us sometimes and gets better position, and we just have to work at being better in that. He is a great freshman."

Added Falcon post Beau Becker, "It's hard to guard him when he is on the block because he is a lefty, and not a lot of guys are lefty down there. I see a lot of potential in him also and just a lot of physicality and working."

Lobo point guard Jaelen House had 16 points, three assists, three steals and hit two 3-pointers, including one at the first half buzzer to end halftime with UNM leading 49-30. House was 4-of-27 on 3s in the previous four games, so his 2-for-6 Wednesday was a welcome sight.

Jamal Mashburn Jr. added 10 points and Tru Washington had 14 points off the bench.

RETURN OF PIT WEST? The Thomas & Mack Center was again full of Lobo fans on Wednesday. While an attendance figure wasn't announced, it was at minimum two-thirds UNM fans versus one-third Air Force or neutral fans during the game.

"You're playing a team where it looked like we were in New Mexico today," Scott said. "You know, give credit to them for that. Well, that's who New Mexico is, and that's the experience."