sa国际传媒官网网页入口

Thursday night was but a formality, setting up a seeming inevitable matchup Friday night. 

The UNM Lobos and San Diego State Aztecs 鈥� and their thousands of traveling fans 鈥� will have one more showdown in the Thomas & Mack Center, this time in the semifinals of the Mountain West Tournament. Each team needs a win to keep any hope of an NCAA Tournament appearance alive. 

For the Lobos get there, Tomislav Buljan rattled off a 25-point, 14-rebound double-double, Jake Hall hit five 3-pointers and Uriah Tenette had nine assists three steals and zero turnovers to lead the No. 3 Lobos (23-9) to a comfortable 93-77 win over No. 11 San Jose State (9-24) in Thursday鈥檚 late-night quarterfinal.

鈥淲e felt like we're playing a home game out here again,鈥� said UNM Lobos first-year coach Eric Olen, who like every member of his roster and coaching staff experienced Lobo fandom taking over the Thomas & Mack Center for the MW Tournament on Thursday. 

鈥淎ppreciate all the all the fans that came out. It was so loud just starting the game, you could feel that energy. I thought our guys fed off it as we went.鈥�

Buljan鈥檚 big night came on 10-of-11 shooting (90.9%), a program record for field goal percentage in a conference tournament game (minimum five shots made), breaking Donovan Dent鈥檚 mark of 88.9% (8-9 vs. Boise State in 2024). 

While the undermanned Spartans, who upset No. 6 Boise State on Wednesday night to get to Thursday鈥檚 quarterfinals round, went toe to toe with the Lobos in the first half, they were clearly gassed in the second half as the Lobos onslaught of talent, fresh legs, and those fans, overwhelmed SJSU. 

Lobos point guard Deyton Albury scored the final five points of the first half to stretch a two-point lead to 43-36 at halftime for UNM. That lead grew to as many as 22 in the second half, but the effort from a Spartans team that had six players listed as 鈥渙ut鈥� in the pregame availability report due to injuries was not lost on the Lobos. 

鈥淭hey鈥檝e got multiple guys who basically played 80 minutes and back to back nights,鈥� Olen said. 鈥淭hat takes a toll on everybody. We did try to consistently have ball pressure. We always do, but Uriah (Tenette), Deyton (Alnury) are really good at the point of attack, of really making people work, and we tried to play with some pace the other way.鈥�

Tenette, the Lobo freshman listed as 5-foot-11, got a rare start and made the most of it. He scored eight points and his nine assists without a turnover are the most in Mountain West Tournament history. He put one of about a dozen exclamation marks on the game with an alley-oop dunk to put the Lobos up 81-62 with just under six minutes to go.

鈥淗e's big time, big time energy. He's big time,鈥� said San Jose State鈥檚 star guard Colby Garland, who head a team high 20 points to go along with seven assists but also had seven turnovers. 

鈥淗e's a quick guard. He plays with a lot of heart. He鈥檚 quick. He can knock down 3s. He can do whatever his team needs Like you said, nine assists, zero turnovers, that鈥檚 high-level point guard play. He's a great player. I'm not sure what year he is 鈥︹��

鈥淔reshman,鈥� a reporter interjected. 

鈥淗e鈥檚 a freshman?鈥� Garland responded, eyebrows raised. 鈥淥h, wow. He鈥檚 going to be good.鈥�

He certainly was on Thursday, though the decision to start him wasn鈥檛 as much about him as it was from what may seem like an unlikely source. 

While Garland and fellow guard Jermaine Washington (listed as 6-3) were fast, smaller guards who gave the Lobos trouble in the regular season, making it seem like an understandable strategic shift for Olen to insert him into the starting lineup in lace of the 6-9 Antonio Chol, breaking a 19-game streak of using the same starting lineup, Olen said it wasn鈥檛 anything about a coaching decision at all. 

鈥淭hat was actually Antonio Chol came to me and asked to come off the bench because he felt like it would help our team,鈥� Olen said.

Chol has certainly been struggling the last month of the season, scoring just 15 total points in the five final games of the regular season including going scoreless in three of those games. 

But Thursday, after his acknowledgement of those struggles despite Olen sticking by him as a starter, Chol came off the bench to score nine points and grab a pair of rebounds in 20:27 on the court.

UNM outrebounded SJSU 38-24, shot 58.5% in the game and 67.7% in the second half. That clip for a game 鈥� 58.5% 鈥� is a program record for a conference tournament game.  They had 26 assists on 38 made baskets 鈥� tied for the most assists in a Lobos conference tournament game (UNM had 26 vs. BYU in the 2005 MW Tournament). 

Hall finished with 19 points, Albury with 13 and Luke Haupt had 15 points, four rebounds, four assists, and one steal. It was his defense that drew the praise of the opposing coach. 

鈥淗aupt only had like one steal on the stats, but he was in the middle of a whole bunch of problems for us,鈥� said San Jose State coach Tim Miles. 鈥淚 thought he was really good, 鈥� You could see he was playing with (a sense that) this matters. And I thought he was super disruptive.鈥�

The SDSU showdown

No. 2 San Diego State (21-10) stymied seventh-seeded Colorado State 71-62 to advance on the Lobos鈥� half of the bracket.

SDSU and CSU 鈥� along with Utah State, Boise State and Fresno State 鈥� are playing in the Mountain West Tournament for the final time. Those schools will depart for the rebuilt Pac-12 next season.

SDSU held off CSU despite hitting just 22 of 42 (52%) free throws. The Aztecs led most of the way and leaned on their defense to keep the Rams at arms鈥� length down the stretch.

The Lobos and the Aztecs have the two most successful men鈥檚 basketball programs in the history of the conference. They split the regular-season series this year, each team winning on its home court.

Before knowing the result of the UNM/San Jose State game, Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher was asked what he could expect from the Lobos, should they be his team鈥檚 semifinal opponent. 

鈥淭hat Buljan will probably get 72 rebounds against us,鈥� Dutcher joked, or at least it seemed like a joke.

Buljan did, in fact, have a 24-point, 18 rebounds game against SDSU less than two weeks ago in the Pit (Feb. 28).

The other quarterfinals

On the other half of the bracket, top-seeded Utah State beat No. 8 UNLV, 80-60. Mountain West Player of the Year Mason Falslev scored 24 points to go along with nine rebounds, three assists and three steals.

They play No. 5 Nevada in Friday's first semifinal game. The Wolf Pack beat No. 4 Grand Canyon, 84-80, in a game Nevada hit 36 of 45 free throws. Corey Camper Jr. scored 27 points for Nevada.

Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) .