Mountain West men’s basketball update: New Mexico closing in on regular-season conference title

The New Mexico men’s basketball team is one victory away from securing its first Mountain West Conference regular-season title in 12 years. 

Coming off their first two-game skid of the season, the Lobos (23-6, 15-3) got back in the win column Saturday with a 92-71 rout of Air Force (4-25, 1-17). MWC Player of the Year frontrunner Donovan Dent had 23 points and six assists while Nelly Junior Joseph recorded his 14th double-double of the season with 14 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks. 

“We needed one of these pretty bad,” Dent said in his postgame press conference. “I mean those two games we lost, yeah, they don’t hurt us, they’re not terrible losses for us. But we wanted to win both of them, of course, on the road. So to be able to come out here and get one of those, it’s always so good.”

With two regular-season games remaining, New Mexico sits above Colorado State (20-9, 14-4) and Utah State (24-6, 14-5) in the MWC standings. The Lobos own sweeps of both teams. 

New Mexico can clinch its first regular-season title since 2012-13 at 7 p.m. Mountain time Tuesday night at Nevada (16-13, 8-10). If the Lobos stumble in Reno, they can still wrap up the top seed for the MWC Tournament Saturday at home against UNLV (16-13, 10-8). 

Colorado State stayed alive in the MWC title rice Saturday with a 93-66 beatdown of the suddenly-reeling Aggies. Utah State also wasn’t competitive in Wednesday’s 82-65 loss at Boise State (21-8, 13-5). 

“Obviously, this has been a brutal week for us,” Aggies head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “Gotta regroup. … It’s a group effort. I think the entire organization failed this week.”

Nique Clifford led the way with 26 points, nine assists, six rebounds and two blocks for the Rams, who are up to No. 58 in the NCAA NET Rankings. With five straight victories, Colorado State has played its way onto the NCAA Tournament bubble. 

“Considering the stakes of the game and it being March, I would say it was our best performance of the year,” Rams head coach Niko Medved said of hammering Utah State. “The energy in the first part of the game was just palpable.”

Boise State and San Diego State (20-7, 13-5) both survived tough tests on the road to remain in a tie for fourth place. 

The Broncos avoided disaster at Fresno State (5-24, 1-17) with a late rally to secure a 66-61 victory. Playing without star center Magoon Gwath for the second straight game, the Aztecs pulled out a 72-69 win over Wyoming (12-18, 5-14).  

Firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble, the Broncos travel to Air Force at 7 p.m. Tuesday before wrapping up the regular season at 8 p.m. Friday night against Colorado State at ExtraMile Arena. 

In his Sunday morning update, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi still had New Mexico and Utah State as safely in his NCAA Tournament field of 68. San Diego State received one of the last four byes while Boise State was Lunardi’s first team out.