LOBO BASKETBALL: A Dent in the Mavericks’ Armour

UNM guard Donovan Dent attempts a layup against UT Arlington on Thursday night in The Pit. Dent hit the game-winning layup at the buzzer to beat the Mavericks, 82-80. The Lobos are now 2-1 on the season. Photo Courtesy of UNM Athletics.

Coast-to-coast for Double Ds.

Sophomore Donovan Dent took an inbound pass with 5.3 seconds left and drove the entire length of the court to hit a layup to fend off a pesky University of Texas at Arlington team, 82-80, on Thursday in The Pit.

Dent – who also had 25 points – hit the most important shot of the young season for the UNM men’s basketball team.

“They kind of picked up and pressed us a little bit. So, I knew they have a guy (Akili Vining) back peddling,” Dent said. “And I just kind of saw and made a move from there.”

The Mavericks (2-1) rallied in the second and tied the game with a Makaih Williams 3 at 80. This coming after the Lobos (2-1) blew a 12-point lead in the second half.

Head coach Richard Pitino said that you have to give UT Arlington some credit for being a tough team.

“They were rebounding the basketball extremely well. They were taking us off the bounce,” Pitino said. “I kept telling our guys, you just have to find a way to win this thing. We know our best basketball is ahead of us. We’ve dealt with so many injuries. We’ve dealt with obviously Nelly (Junior Joseph) missing four crucial months of practice. We’ve just got to find a way”  

While Dent might have been the hero with the game-winning shot, it was a newcomer who saved the Lobos on the defensive side of the ball.

Fresno State transfer Jemarl Baker Jr blocked DaJuan Gordon on a layup attempt with 14 seconds left in the game.

At the time the Lobos were up two, 79-77. Baker would get the rebound on the block and get fouled. Baker would hit only one of his two free throw attempts to push the lead to three.

“I was just trying my best to stay in front of (Gordon). He’s a good player, he plays downhill and he is pretty strong as well,” Baker told the Lobo Radio Network in a postgame interview. “Again, I just wanted to stay in front, make it a tough shot or not even let him get a shot off at all.”

While Baker’s play has the Lobos above a .500 record for the season, he and many of the new transfers are struggling on the court.

Baker finished with three points and missed all four field goals he attempted against UT Arlington.

Junior Joseph was bitten by the foul bug.

He had three early in the game and saw limited time late in the first half and a lot of action in the second half.

He finished five total points and three of those came from the free throw line.

Dayton transfer Mustapha Amzil had zero points and missed both of the shots he took.

 Pitino said despite the struggles early on this season, he is still excited about this team.

“We have eight new players and when you take a veteran out like Jaelan House out, you’ve got a lot of new guys on the court,” Pitino said. “You know, we’re not going to be perfect right now. There were moments where I thought we were really good, but there were also moments where you are just scratching your head wondering what is going on? You have to learn from every opportunity that you get. Whether it is those exhibition games. Whether it’s Saint Mary’s. And then this one.

“It’s just, keep progressing. Keep progressing because we don’t have a lot of returners, we’ve got some talent with some guys and I really like us. But there are a lot of guys in that locker that we didn’t have last year. So, we’re gonna have to kind of build on the fly, like a lot of people are doing in college basketball right now.”

House did not play again due to a hip injury and Pitino said that House will be reevaluated on Saturday

The other stellar and veteran guard, Jamal Mashburn Jr, did play and had a game-high 29 points.

The hot start for Mash guided him to 22 first-half points on 7-for-13 shooting. He also hit two 3s in the first half. It was the most first-half points for a Lobo since Elijah Brown against NMSU in 2015-16. Brown also had 22.

Pitino said that he never doubts that Mashburn will score, especially coming off a poor performance in a loss the week before to Saint Mary’s.

“He’s a natural born scorer and I told him ‘just keep taking good shots,’” Pitino said. “And I think for the most part, he’s been taking some good shots.”

Both teams did suffer from a cold start on the offensive side of the gall. Only eight combined points in the first four minutes.

UNM would close out the first half on an 9-0 run and took a 35-26 lead with 2:45 to go in the half.

UT Arlington would open the second half with their own run, 8-1 and cut the lead to 49-44 three minutes into the period.

Mavericks’ Shemar Wilson would also tie Mashburn with a game-high 29 points. He also nabbed 11 rebounds. Wilson was also slapped with two technical fouls.

The Lobos would be outrebounded by the Mavericks 45-36.

Pitino said the Lobos need to rebound the basketball better.

“(UT Arlington) is a good rebounding team,” he said. “Guarding the ball and rebounding are the two glaring weaknesses.”

The Lobos will head to Las Vegas, Nev. on Tuesday and open up against the Toledo Rockets in the first game of the Ball Dawgs Classic.