The Lobos started the game on a 10-0 run, but that was the largest lead they would hold all night as they eventually wound up falling to the Aztecs, 75-70 – ending the Lobos’ 13-game winning streak.

“It was a great run, it was a great streak and now we have got to start over,” coach Alford said.

New Mexico (15-3, 1-1) started the game well, playing good defense as well as running an efficient offense, but the entire second half was a struggle for the Lobos.

The Aztecs (16-2, 2-0) ran off to an 11-point lead with 7:30 left in the game after a 15-0 run that spanned over five minutes. San Diego State never looked back and left the Pit victorious in a big-time Mountain West game.

The Lobos failed to defend SDSU’s inside-out game and couldn’t find quality shot selections on offense in the second half. The Aztecs defense was stellar all game, holding UNM to just 39.1% shooting.

“We were really poor offensively in the second half and we allowed that to affect our defense, we hadn’t been doing that.” Alford said. “We have had about a two month span here where even when we haven’t been on offensively we’ve done a really good job defensively.”

San Diego State shot 48.2% from the field, the best field goal percentage for a Lobos opponent this season.

Aztecs’ Xavier Thames was the go-to guy tonight for SDSU. The sharp-shooting guard finished with a game-high 22 points and was a matchup nightmare for the Lobos all night, whether it was him creating a shot from behind the arch or dribble driving to the hoop.

“I thought he (Thames) was the difference in the game,” Alford said. “I thought both point guards (Xavier Thames and LaBradford Franklin) really broke us down. We really wanted their bigs to have to do some more scoring and we really didn’t force that to happen.”

Lobos’ leading scorer Tony Snell was silent all game and walked away with a season-low 3 points.

Phillip McDonald led the scoring attack for the Lobos with 20 points. Kendall Williams (16), Drew Gordon (15), and Jamal Fenton (10) all pitched in with double-digit scoring efforts.

The lack of space created by the Lobos on offense forced them to jack up 31 three-point attempts (13-31), something that coach Alford does not want to see.

“We took way too many three-point shots. You take thirty three’s in a game you better make a bucket load of them,” Alford said.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Lobos as they will look to rebound Saturday in Las Vegas against the Runnin’ Rebs of UNLV.

"This will be the best basketball team that we have played (UNLV) in the best environment that we have played so it will be a tough task," Alford said.

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