No. 10 New Mexico Sews Up Mountain West With Big Win at No. 13 BYU

Read more and discuss the game at our BYU blog, Vanquish The Foe.

Provo, UT (Sports Network) - Dairese Gary posted 23 points with six assists as 10th-ranked New Mexico edged 13th-ranked BYU, 83-81, at Marriott Center.

Darington Hobson recorded 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Lobos (27-3, 13-2 MWC), who have won 13 straight games and moved a game and a half ahead of BYU in the conference. Roman Martinez nailed three triples en route to 15 points.

Michael Loyd scored 19 points for the Cougars (26-4, 11-3), who had won four in a row coming in. Tyler Haws had 18, while Jackson Emery posted 11 points, seven rebounds and five steals in defeat.

A.J. Hardeman hit a driving basket in the lane with 38 seconds left and the Lobos led 82-80, then Jonathan Tavernari missed a three. Gary made 1-of-2 from the foul line at the other end to extend New Mexico’s margin to three.

Haws missed a three-point attempt, but when Emery was fouled on the rebound, he missed the front end. Emery hit the second for an 83-81 contest then fouled Gary, who proceeded to miss both free throws with 17 seconds to go.

Noah Hartsock followed with a long-range miss, but Will Brown also tanked his two from the line. However, BYU didn’t get off a last-chance shot before the buzzer.

In a closely played first half, New Mexico forged ahead 35-31 on a jumper from Brown with 4:47 left. The bucket capped a quick 6-1 spurt.

Philip McDonald’s trey increased the Lobos’ edge to 38-33 with 3:20 left, then after Tavernari hit a deuce, New Mexico ran off the final five points to take an eight-point lead to halftime.

BYU kept plugging away at its deficit, and finally was able to do so with 4:38 played as Hartsock’s layup made it 48-47. He made another easy bucket off the break for a 57-53 Cougars lead with 12:32 to play, but a Martinez trey just over a minute later created a 59-59 deadlock.

A Brandon Davies free throw with 6:48 to play boosted BYU to a 69-65 edge, but McDonald hit another three to give the Lobos a 70-69 lead.

Hobson hit from beyond the arc with 2:58 to play and New Mexico went up 80-76, but Loyd hit consecutive buckets for an 80-all tie inside a minute left.

New Mexico committed 15 turnovers in the victory, with BYU turning the ball over just seven times...McDonald ended up with nine points, on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc...Hartsock and Tavernari each finished with eight points.