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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Griz fall short

No. 3 seed New Mexico staves off upset bid

Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. – After all of Darington Hobson’s big talk about a deep NCAA tournament run for New Mexico, Montana nearly shut up the Lobos right away.

Roman Martinez had 19 points, six rebounds and four assists and third-seeded New Mexico overcame a shaky start to beat 14th-seeded Montana 62-57 in the NCAA tournament’s East Regional on Thursday night.

Hobson added 11 points, 11 rebounds and six assists while playing with a sprained left wrist for the Lobos, who used a 17-0 run after halftime to briefly break open the game after trailing by a point at the break.

Martinez made three 3-pointers, including one with 7:44 to play, and Dairese Gary converted seven free throws over the final 3:36 on the way to 15 points as New Mexico staved off an upset to continue a season that began with being picked to finish fifth in the Mountain West Conference.

The Lobos (30-4) will play Washington on Saturday. New Mexico is trying to win more than one tournament game for the first time since the field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

Hobson predicted a spot in the regional final for his Lobos, who hadn’t been in the tournament since 2005 and hadn’t won an NCAA game since 1999.

Montana’s Brian Qvale scored 26 points on 12-for-16 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds, carrying the load on a terrible night for leading scorer Anthony Johnson.

Johnson was held to six points and missed his first 11 field-goal tries before his only basket on a baseline jumper with 1:41 to play. Johnson missed all four 3-point tries and committed four turnovers.

The Grizzlies couldn’t seize the biggest moment of the game.

After Gary missed two free throws with 22.4 seconds left, Montana (22-10) trailed by just three points – but Will Cherry pushed the ball up and missed an acrobatic layin rather than trying a potential-tying 3-pointer.

Now, UM coach Wayne Tinkle (Ferris High) will be free to watch his daughter, Joslyn, make her NCAA tournament debut for Stanford on Saturday.