Courtesy of New Mexico Athletics

PALM DESERT, Calif. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team closed out play at the Acrisure Classic with an 83-73 win over USC Friday night in the tournament’s third-place game. The Lobos (6-2) led for nearly the entire night to defeat the Trojans (5-3) and record their second win of the season over a Big Ten opponent.

Donovan Dent posted his third double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 assists. Tru Washington scored a season-high 20 points, his second career 20-point game, while Nelly Junior Joseph added 15 points. Mustapha Amzil scored 10 points as four Lobos scored in double figures.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lobos used an early 8-0 run to take a 12-8 lead after four-and-a-half minutes of play. The Trojans answered with four straight points to draw even, 12-12, with 12:30 left in the half. The Lobos held a 19-13 lead at the midway point of the half before pushing the margin to 29-18 with 6:00 to go. UNM’s lead grew to 13 at 35-22 with 3:00 left in the half before the Lobos took a 39-30 lead into the break. Washington led UNM with 12 first-half points.

In the second half, USC opened with four quick points to cut the lead to five in the first 45 seconds. The Lobos pushed the margin back to nine at 52-43, forcing a USC timeout with 15:22 to play. A 10-0 run gave New Mexico a 57-43 lead with 12:45 left to play before the lead grew to 15 just past the halfway point of the half. The Lobos led 75-55 with 5:45 to go, but the Trojans used a 14-2 run to cut the lead to eight with 0:45 to play. UNM closed out the 83-73 win at the foul line in the final minute.

LOBO NOTES
• Washington becomes the fourth different Lobo to post a 20-point game this season
• Braden Appelhans scored a season-high nine points off the bench
• Dent remains the only player in the nation to have at least 10 points and five assists in every game this season
• The Lobos become the seventh non-conference team to beat both UCLA and USC in the same season since 1999-00 (Pepperdine in 2001-02), Kansas in 2010-11, Kansas in 2011-12, San Diego State in 2012-13, Monmouth in 2015-16 and Gonzaga in 2023-24)
• New Mexico improved to 7-1 in regular season neutral site games over the past three seasons

QUOTABLE
“I tried to get the bench some minutes a little too early. We were up 20 and they cut it to eight. We handled our business for sure and I thought we were terrific in the second half. We pretty poised and composed the entire game. I was concerned with coming off an emotional loss like yesterday about bouncing back with energy and we certainly had that. I don’t think you can understate two Big Ten wins in the non-conference.” – Richard Pitino

UP NEXT
The Lobos open Mountain West play on Wednesday (Dec. 4), hosting San Jose State at The Pit. Game time is 7 p.m. and the game will air on the Mountain West Network. Tickets are on sale at GoLobos.com/tickets.