New Mexico Hands Bradley First Home Loss
The Lobos force a 5-5 tie in the final MWC-MVC Challenge
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A nice road win for New Mexico
Anthony Mathis led all scorers with 23 points, and New Mexico secured their second true road win of the season over Bradley by a margin of 85-75.
Two other Lobos scored in double digits. Corey Manigault finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season, while Dane Kuiper netted 15 points on the night.
Bradley was led by point guard Darrell Brown who finished with 20 points and 4 assists. Brown, who currently leads his team in turnovers per game, did not turn the ball over once against the Lobos’ pressure defense.
Though they were unable to turn over the Braves’ point guard, they did force Bradley to commit 15 turnovers as a team and, maybe more importantly, impose their fast pace style of play.
And while the pace of play was fast, it was another slow start offensively for the Lobos, allowing Bradley to score the first 11 points of the contest. Trailing 18-22 at the 8:28 mark, New Mexico had a surge of scoring production from Mathis, who accounted for the next nine points of the Lobos offense. It was the third of the Mathis threes that gave New Mexico the lead for good.
The Lobos would lead by as many as 15 with 4:07 to go in the game, but Bradley was able to cut the lead down to 8 points with 37 seconds remaining. A pair of free throws by Manigault were enough to close out the contest by a margin of 10.
The Lobos look for continued success in a stretch of road games on Tuesday Dec. 4 where they’ll look to halt an 0-4 losing skid to in-state rival New Mexico State in Las Cruces, NM.
