FORT WORTH = The Lobo who turned himself into a Horned Frog turned out to be no friend of the University of New Mexico Lobos.

TCU senior Ryan Wall, the former Lobo not quite good enough to play for former UNM coach Ritchie McKay, banged in a 3-pointer from the left baseline, over the outstretched fingers of Lobo Chad Toppert, and broke UNM's heart with 1.6 seconds to play.

TCU won 74-72 Tuesday night in Daniel-Meyer Coliseum before a sparse crowd of 3,210.

"It's always a little sweeter to beat your friends," said Wall, who played two years at UNM before transferring to TCU and redshirting the 2005-06 season. "I still see some of these guys. Still talk to them.

"This is the kind of shot you dream about."

The shot turned a pretty good UNM performance into a nightmare for the Lobos who led by 13 points, 41-28, at the half as many as 18 points (48-30) in the second half.

"You have to play defense for more than 20 minutes," said Lobos coach Steve Alford.

The TCU win and Wall's shot were both improbable endings since the Lobos were bringing the ball in with 17 seconds to play and leading 72-71 with Wall on the TCU bench. But TCU's Jason Ebie stole the ball from Lobo Darren Prentice and after a few bodies crashed to the floor, TCU's Brent Hackett was pulled from the game with a minor leg injury.

TCU coach Neil Dougherty said he looked down the bench and needed someone he felt could hit a perimeter shot.

"I'm glad Ryan was there," said Dougherty, who said the plan was to look for an outside shot and not penetrate to the basket. "We just wanted whoever was open."

Wall raced into the game, accepted the in-bounds pass in the left corner with 13.6 seconds to play, and tossed it to Ebie at the point as the clock faded away. Ebie drove the middle, kicked off to Wall in the corner and the dream shot went up.

"I felt I had it," said Wall, who kept his right arm extended in the classic goose-neck finish for several seconds. "But you never know for sure until it goes in."

The shot was Wall's second of the game and his first basket of the night in seven minutes of playing time.

The Lobos were led by Prentice, who scored 15 first-half points and finished with 19. UNM had four other players in double figures: J.R. Giddens with 12, Daniel Faris with 11 and Roman Martinez with 10.

A key for UNM going into this game was not to let the Horned Frogs dominate the boards like they did in an 83-56 win over Wyoming on Saturday.

The Lobos outrebounded TCU 30-19, holding the Frogs to nine second-half boards.

The problem for UNM in the second half was the Frogs didn't need many rebounds. Most of their shots were falling in.

After shooting 34.8 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes, TCU tickled the nets at 76 percent (19-of-25) in the second half. TCU finished the game shooting 56.3 percent.

The Frogs were 4-of-5 from behind the line in the second half. TCU also had 11 steals.

The Lobos rolled to a fat 41-28 halftime lead behind Prentice's 15 points. Martinez scored his 10 points in the first half.

The Lobos' first half also was fueled by a 19-10 edge on the boards.

The Lobos actually shot well in the second half going 10-of-21 from the field for a 47.6 percentage. UNM ended the game going 11-of-22 from 3-point range for a solid 50 percent.

But the Lobos didn't have many defensive answers for the fired up Frogs. Coach Dougherty said among the points of emphasis for his Frogs at halftime was better defense and better effort.

TCU was led by Kevin Langford and Henry Salter with 16 points apiece. John Ortiz and Brent Hackett each had 13 points.

The top rebounder in the game was Giddens with six.

And the happiest player on the court probably was the Frog who used to be the Lobo.