Donovan Dent, Jaelen House, J.T. Toppin power No. 25 New Mexico past Wyoming 91-73.
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — Donovan Dent had 19 points and seven assists and Jaelen House added 17 points and eight rebounds, leading No. 25 New Mexico to a 91-73 victory over Wyoming on Tuesday night.
J.T. Toppin set a New Mexico freshman record with his eighth double-double, finishing with 11 points and 12 rebounds. He eclipsed the mark set by Kenny Thomas. Jamal Mashburn Jr. scored 15 points and Mustapha Amzil 13 points to lead a balanced effort by the Lobos (19-4, 7-3 Mountain West).
“The balance was great,” New Mexico coach Richard Pitino said after his team made 13 3-pointers. “You know the shot attempts all were really good. I thought we passed the ball well. We found shooters. We keep working on flow to where we’re not one dimensional. We had some moments that were really good.”
The Cowboys (12-11, 5-5) had previously beaten two other NCAA Tournament hopefuls, Nevada and Colorado State, in Laramie.
Mashburn completed a four-point play early in the second half and made a pair of free throws to give New Mexico its largest lead at 64-40 with 12:56 remaining.
Brendan Wenzel hit four 3-pointers and finished with 20 points, and Sam Griffin added 19 to lead Wyoming, which cut its deficit to 77-64 and had possession before a turnover allowed Dent to score in transition to put the game out of reach.
Akuel Kot scored 13 points and Cam Manyawu added 12 for the Cowboys, who were outrebounded 51-35 and gave up 15 fast-break points.
“We have no margin for error. We have none,” Wyoming coach Jeff Linder said. “So, we’ve got to find a way to just minimize those little mistakes against these type of teams. They just expose you.”
The Lobos outscored Wyoming 28-0 in points off turnovers during a 77-60 victory on Jan. 6 in Albuquerque. The Cowboys committed eight turnovers in the rematch and both teams had 10 points off turnovers.
New Mexico led 40-25 at the intermission after pulling away with a 13-0 run. Dent scored 11 points in the first half on 5-for-7 shooting.
The Cowboys, who were 4 for 25 on 3s during a 62-48 loss at UNLV on Saturday, were 1 for 12 from behind the arc in the first half before hitting 5 of 14 in the second half.
“I thought we were really locked in on the scouting report,” Pitino said. “I think we understood the importance of this game and we still disrupted, but you’re not always going to turn them over. I thought we did make them uncomfortable. We wanted to make the 3-point line uncomfortable. We did that.”
BIG PICTURE
New Mexico: The Lobos bounced back from their first home loss of the season, an 86-78 setback to Boise State, by handing Wyoming its first conference home loss. New Mexico moved into a first-place tie with No. 22 Utah State, No. 24 San Diego State and Boise State in the deep Mountain West.
Wyoming: The Cowboys, who knocked off then-No. 24 Colorado State in their previous home game, are suddenly on a two-game skid after being one of the surprise teams in the Mountain West at the midpoint of the conference race.
UP NEXT
New Mexico: Hosts UNLV on Saturday.
Wyoming: Hosts No. 22 Utah State on Feb. 14.
___
Get poll alerts and updates on AP Top 25 basketball throughout the season. Sign up here
___
AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
