PHOTO BY JOE GRIMANDO

Clune Arena – Colorado Springs, CO

It’s no secret that Air Force has given New Mexico a fair bit of trouble in more recent seasons: The Falcons have been on the winning-end of some of the Mountain West’s biggest upset wins against the Lobos (The 2023 Air Force win in Clune Arena, and 2024’s 78-77 Air Force win in The Pit quickly come to mind.).

After Air Force opened Saturday’s afternoon match-up on a 5-0 run, it seemed as though the Falcons were feeling a bit upset-minded, yet again. But… This was not to be. New Mexico quickly responded with a streaky 16-0 run and never quite looked back. The Lobos capitalized on a number of Air Force turnovers and mistakes, while guards Jake Hall and Tajavis Miller caught fire from behind the line. The two combined for 40 points, including 9 of New Mexico’s 14 made threes. Hall had an explosive afternoon, matching his career-best effort of 24 points, and adding 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal. As the Lobo Basketball X account would later post, this gives Jake Hall a program-record (among Freshman) of five games having scored 20 or more.

In total, four Lobos hit double-figures, with Deyton Albury and Uriah Tenette contributing an additional 13 and 10 points, respectively. Star big man, Tomislav Buljan – despite being relatively quiet on the scoring-end, posted 14 rebounds, bringing his season total to an impressive 138 rebounds (Texas Tech star and former Lobo, JT Toppin holds the record for most rebounds in a season among New Mexico Freshman, with 326 in the 2023-24 season.)

New Mexico head coach Eric Olen seemed intent on keeping a fresh rotation of players to counter any fatigue stemming from the high elevation of Colorado Springs: Ten Lobos saw action, including Freshman Timeo Pons, who returned to action after an illness (contributing 6 points, 2 steals, and 1 block off of the bench). Starting guard Chris Howell missed his fifth-straight game after suffering an injury in the late non-conference slate (against Florida Gulf Coast).

For Air Force, mistakes continued to pile throughout the game. In total, the Falcons turned the ball over 20 times, leading to 22 points-off-of-turnovers for the Lobos. Freshman guard Kam Sanders led the Falcons in scoring (13 points, 3 rebounds), with Junior forward Caleb Walker (11 points, 7 rebounds) being the only other Falcon to see double-figures.

Notably, the 91-49 margin of victory also marked the largest for the Lobos in a Mountain West road game.

Plenty of New Mexico fans made the 5-hour trip to Colorado Springs to witness these new program records, and were vocal throughout – Especially when, around the 5:00 mark, Uriah Tenette hit an electric, SportsCenter – worthy dunk that brought Clune Arena to life (see below).

Couch Potato Sports Player of the Game: Jake Hall (Guard, Fr.) – 24 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists

Next Up: New Mexico advances to 13-3 (4-1 in Mountain West play), returning home to face Grand Canyon, the dangerous Mountain West newcomer that’s fresh off an upset win at Boise State. Tip-time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, and can be streamed on the Mountain West Network.