New Mexico was just plain sick and tired of losing to the University of Utah. Six straight times the Utes had beaten the Lobos, including a pair of convincing wins earlier this year.
Led by freshman sensation Kenny Thomas, the Lobos got their revenge Saturday night before a noisy crowd at the Pit, defeating the Utes 64-60 in the finals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament.Both teams already had NCAA berths wrapped up, but the Lobos get the WAC's automatic berth on the basis of the victory.
"Road games are always more difficult and the sixth-man jumped in there tonight," said Ute coach Rick Majerus. "Our kids are feeling bad, but they're still the WAC champs. Someone else is out there cutting down the nets after winning three games on their home court."
Greg Schornstein, who had only scored two points up to that point, drained a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left to put the Lobos up 62-60. Utah set up a play for Keith Van Horn but his wide-open 3-pointer from the top of the key bounced away. From there Charles Smith sank two free throws to put the game away.
The Lobos put the defensive clamps on Van Horn, who had totaled 50 points in the first two WAC tourney games. Van Horn hardly touched the ball in the second half and finished with just 14 points, but did get 11 rebounds.
"They did a lot of things differently this time to keep the ball out of my hands," said Van Horn. "Their whole team did a tremendous job of keeping the ball out of my hands."
Brandon Jessie led the Utes with 16 points, bouncing back from a pair of subpar games when he only scored a total of 13 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Michael Doleac added 12 points for the Utes.
Thomas finished with 30 points and 17 boards, while Smith added 17.
Although the Lobos were the ones who had played a triple-overtime game the night before, the Utes looked like they had more tired legs. Mark Rydalch, the Utes' normally reliable 3-point shooter, missed all four of his shots and was short on all four. Van Horn was just 6 of 14, Jessie 7 of 17 and Andre Miller just 2 of 10.
The Utes had led most of the first half and taken a 33-30 halftime lead. But the Lobos came back to grab a four-point lead at 52-48 with 8:14 left. the Utes got open shots, misfired on their next three possessions.
New Mexico still led 55-52 with 3:44 left, but Van Horn rebounded a Jessie miss and put it in. Then Jessie and Van Horn made steals on consecutive UNM possessions and made layups to stake Utah a 58-55 lead. But UNM's David Gibson sank a jumper to cut the lead to one with 1:55 left.
Miller found Doleac inside for an easy basket and then Thomas sank two more free throws. Miller's shot was blocked on a drive and Jessie was called for traveling after he made the rebound.
Then Schornstein sank his big basket to put the Lobos ahead for good and the Utes couldn't respond.
The first half was the Kenny Thomas Show as the Lobo freshman scored 21 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. The Utes sent three different centers at him and they accumulated seven fouls among them in the first half alone.
The two teams traded leads seven times before the Utes finally grabbed the lead for the last six minutes of the half. Doug Chapman picked up four fouls in the first half alone, including a technical for disputing a foul call against Thomas.
While Thomas went 6-for-7 from the field in the first half, the rest of the Lobos were an abysmal 3-of-23 in the opening half.
UTE NOTES: Van Horn made the all-tournament team along with Thomas, Smith, Colorado State's David Evans, Fresno State's Dominick Young. Thomas was named the tourney's MVP . . . Both the Ute men's and women's teams will gather at the University Park Hotel Sunday afternoon to found out their fate for the NCAA tournament. The men's announcement will come at 4:30 p.m. with the women's at 5:30 p.m . . . . One reason the Utes are likely to end up in the Albuquerque subregional is because UNM athletic director Rudy Davalos is on the selection committee and wants a WAC team to help attendance.