ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Western New Mexico University men's basketball team closed their exhibition slate Saturday night falling to Division I New Mexico, 99-68, Saturday night inside The Pit.


UNM opened the scoring with a three-pointer a minute and a half in.


Chad Carter (Tucson, AZ/Ironwood Ridge High School) answered with a layup and then added another layup on the next trip down the floor to put the Mustangs in front by one, 4-3, at the 17:57 mark.


Carter continued with his string of points, as he scored the first seven for WNMU with a three-pointer 40 seconds later to give the Mustangs their largest lead of the game, 7-5.


UNM would push the lead back in their favor over the next few minutes, opening up a five-point lead, 12-7, at the 15:16, before Lucio Luttrell (Las Cruces, NM/Las Cruces High School) made a pair from the free throw line to trim the lead back to three.


The Lobos looked to put the game out of reach over the next several minutes, but each time, the Mustangs would get the lead back down to seven.


With UNM ahead 11, 22-11, Carter answered with a dunk and then made a jumper to pull WNMU to within seven, 22-15, at the 10:24 mark.


The Lobos answered with a 5-0 run, which was then countered back a 5-0 run by the Mustangs, with Breland Berry making a layup and Ryan Crane (Anthem, AZ/Boulder Creek High School) delivering a trey from downtown leaving UNM ahead, 27-20, at the 8:57 mark.


Berry nailed another jumper at the 6:31 mark to cut the deficit to nine, 34-25, with under seven to play in the half before the Lobos took off.


UNM outscored the Mustangs by 14 over the final six minutes of the half to take a 57-34 lead into the locker room.


The Lobos didn't let up in the second half, pushing the lead to 30 first at the 18:04 mark and again for good at the 17:24 mark.


The Mustangs made a few runs later in the half, cutting the deficit back to 31 a couple of times with the last coming on a layup by TJ Riley (Tyler, TX/Chapel Hill High School) with 4:46 to play.


The lead would get down to 28 over the final few minutes with Carter delivering a three-pointer at the 2:30 mark and then Everett Duis (El Paso, TX/El Dorado High School) converted a pair from the free throw line to cut the lead back to 28 again, 94-66, with 1:23 to play.


Carter led all-scorers with 21 points, hitting on 9-of-16 from the field, including a 3-for-6 effort from beyond the arc. He also had five rebounds and two assists.


Crane was the only other Mustang in double-figures with 15, going 5-for-6 from three-point land.


WNMU will open the regular season in Hawaii beginning on Sunday, November 20 against the University of Hawaii at Hilo with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m. in Hilo, Haw.
 

 
Western New Mexico vs New Mexico
11/05/11 7 p.m. at The Pit/Bob King Court
At The Pit/Bob King Court
NEW MEXICO 99, WESTERN NEW MEXICO 68
WESTERN NEW MEXICO (0-2 Ex.)
Chad Carter (Tucson, AZ/Ironwood Ridge High School) 9-16 0-1 21; Ryan Crane (Anthem, AZ/Boulder Creek High School) 5-6 0-0 15; TJ Riley (Tyler, TX/Chapel Hill High School) 3-13 2-3 8; Brelan
Berry 3-8 0-0 6; Lucio Luttrell (Las Cruces, NM/Las Cruces High School) 1-4 2-2 5; Everett Duis (El Paso, TX/El Dorado High School) 1-4 2-4 4; Merle
Branch 2-4 0-0 4; Edward Estavillo (Willcox, AZ/Willcox High School) 1-4 0-0 3; Juan Suarez (Nogales, AZ/Nogales High School) 0-3 2-2 2; Daryl
Littleton 0-4 0-2 0. Totals 25-66 8-14 68.
NEW MEXICO (2-0 Ex.)
GORDON, Drew 8-12 4-5 20; SNELL, Tony 7-11 2-2 20; WILLIAMS, Kendall 3-8
9-10 17; McDONALD, Phillip 3-9 3-3 11; WALKER, Demetrius 3-7 3-4 10;
BAIRSTOW, Cameron 1-1 6-6 8; GREENWOOD, Hugh 2-4 0-0 4; FENTON, Jamal 2-5
0-0 4; PEREZ, Chris 1-1 0-0 3; DUNNING, Dominique 1-1 0-0 2; ALFORD, Kory
0-2 0-0 0. Totals 31-61 27-30 99.
Western New Mexico............   34   34  -   68
New Mexico....................   57   42  -   99
3-point goals--Western New Mexico 10-25 (Ryan Crane (Anthem, AZ/Boulder Creek High School) 5-6; Chad Carter (Tucson, AZ/Ironwood Ridge High School) 3-6;
Lucio Luttrell (Las Cruces, NM/Las Cruces High School) 1-2; Edward Estavillo (Willcox, AZ/Willcox High School) 1-4; Juan Suarez (Nogales, AZ/Nogales High School) 0-3; TJ Riley (Tyler, TX/Chapel Hill High School) 0-4),
New Mexico 10-29 (SNELL, Tony 4-8; WILLIAMS, Kendall 2-5; McDONALD, Phillip
2-6; PEREZ, Chris 1-1; WALKER, Demetrius 1-3; ALFORD, Kory 0-1; FENTON,
Jamal 0-2; GREENWOOD, Hugh 0-2; GORDON, Drew 0-1). Fouled out--Western New
Mexico-None, New Mexico-None. Rebounds--Western New Mexico 35 (Chad Carter (Tucson, AZ/Ironwood Ridge High School)
5), New Mexico 40 (GORDON, Drew 8; WALKER, Demetrius 8). Assists--Western
New Mexico 19 (Juan Suarez (Nogales, AZ/Nogales High School) 6), New Mexico 21 (GREENWOOD, Hugh 6). Total
fouls--Western New Mexico 24, New Mexico 21. Technical fouls--Western New
Mexico-None, New Mexico-None. A-13473