We are about 15 minutes from the first game of the Mountain West Quarterfinals between the 1 seed New Mexico Lobos (25-6 and won the Conference with a 17-3 record) faces SJSU Spartans (15-18 and finished 8th at 7-13). The two sides split the regular season matchups with the Lobos winning in The PIT in December 83-77, and SJSU winning in The Event Center 71-70 on a putback in the closing seconds. I will be updating this as the game goes along, as well as Twitter (it’ll always be twitter to me), and Bluesky.

Starters for the game:

UNM: Donovan Dent, Tru Washington, Filip Borovicanin, Mustapha Amzil, Nelly Junior Joseph.

SJSU: Donavan Yap, Latrell Davis, Sadaidriene Hall, Josh Uduje, Robert Vaihola.

Officials: Nate Harris, Deidre Carr, Crystal Hogan (Mike Littlewood (Standby).

Very pro UNM crowd in PIT WEST. This is the first time since 2013 (possibly 2014) that UNM could see 10k for the Final if they make it there. I would guess 5,000 here today.

15:47 1H: Lobos 6 SJSU 5. Lobos haven’t been able to hit a jump shot yet, but they have 4 points off of second chances. Lobos are ready to play, just need to calm down and hit some shots. The Lobo crowd is active early.

Dent with the great finish through contact, but he’s unable to hit the FT. Big time shot by Noland to start his day with a 3. Dent with 7 early points for the Lobos, needs to calm down and hit some FTs.

11:39 1H: Lobos 16 SJSU 10. Lobos are very active on the glass and defensive side of the ball.

8:12 1H: SJSU 19 Lobos 16. Lobos haven’t been careless with the ball the last few minutes, and SJSU has taken advantage. They are currently on a 9-0 run.

3:36 1H: Lobos 23 SJSU 21. Great response by the Lobos after the 11-0 SJSU run. Dent is finding his spots right now. SJSU needs to get to the half with Uduje and Davis with only 2 fouls. Lobos need to find at least one person that can knock down a shot.

1:44 1H: Lobos 25 SJSU 21. Shot clock violation on SJSU.

Halftime: Lobos 32 SJSU 23. Tru with the defensive play to set up a 3 for Dent to send the Lobos to the break up 9. Great defense from the Lobos, no foul trouble for the Lobos. Time to create some separation and get some rest.

15:58 2H: Lobos 40 SJSU 25. Lobos are on a 24-4 run since the SJSU’s 11-0 run in the 1H. Impressive defense for the Lobos, especially in the half court. Dent with 17 to lead the Lobos in scoring. Junior Joseph with 10 and 10 for another double double.

13:38 2H: Lobos 40 SJSU 33. Quick 8-0 run for SJSU forces Pitino into a TO. Time to regroup and push this lead back up.

12:00 2H: Lobos 42 SJSU 33. Dent will head to the line for 2 FTs after the TO. Junior Joseph split two trips at the line to end the SJSU 8-0 run.

8:28 2H: Lobos 46 SJSU 40. Couple of big minutes coming up. Can the Lobos extend the lead back to 10+.

6:47 2H: Lobos 48 SJSU 40. Strong drive and finish by Washington extends the lead to 8. Need to play calm these last 6:47.

5:41 2H: Lobos 54 SJSU 42. That’s more like it! A Dent 3 and a TRU dunk extends the lead to 12.

3:32 2H: Lobos 56 SJSU 44. Dent will have 2 FTs after the last media TO.

1:15 2H: Lobos 59 SJSU 49. Lobos will have the ball and are in the double bonus, after the SJSU last TO.

Final: Lobos 63 SJSU 52. Lobos move to 26-6 and will take on the winner of SDSU and Boise State. Dent with 25 and 5, Nelly with 14 and 18.