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Richard Stevens: Faris outplays Utah center Nevill, lifts Lobos to win in OT
Jake Schoellkopf/Special to the Tribune
University of New Mexico center Daniel Faris (center) and teammate Ramon Martinez (right) scramble for a loose ball during the first half against Utah. The Lobos rallied to force overtime and won 77-67 on Tuesday night in The Pit.
Jake Schoellkopf/Special to the Tribune
New Mexico guard J.R. Giddens goes up for a shot surrounded by Utah defenders (left to right) Shaun Green, Luke Drca, Lawrence Borha and Johnnie Bryant. Giddens finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Matchup: New Mexico (16-4, 3-2) at Brigham Young (13-5, 2-1)
Game time: 4 p.m. Saturday
Site: Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
On the air: The Mountain, KKOB-AM (770)
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Giants aren't that popular. Maybe it's a biblical thing going back to when Daniel beaned Goliath.
Wait. Daniel didn't slay Goliath way back when. That was David. Daniel slayed his giant Tuesday night in The Pit.
It was New Mexico's 6-foot-9 Daniel Faris (15 points) to Utah's 7-1 Luke Nevill (13 points). It was Nevill (four turnovers) vs. Faris (zero).
And it was part of a 77-67 Utah beat down that had about everything a University of New Mexico fan could want.
Overtime.
A rally.
A rowdy Pit.
Daniel slaying Goliath.
And the littlest Lobo of them all taking over the game after the biggest Ute of them all went to the bench.
The Lobos slipped past the Utah Utes and Nevill on Tuesday night in overtime in front of 14,309 anti-Nevill Lobos fans.
The UNM win was keyed by Faris, who outscored Nevill by two and outshot the big Ute 16-6.
The win also was paced by UNM's 5-9 Jamaal Smith, who handed Nevill his fourth foul in regulation.
Smith scored five points and pulled down three rebounds in the final 50 seconds as Nevill, who fouled out 20 seconds into overtime, watched from the bench.
"I don't think size has anything to do with winning games," Smith said. "I think it's more the size of your heart than the size of the person."
The Lobos led 44-35 with 13:13 to play in regulation before a 21-3 Utah run put the Utes up 56-47 with 8:35 to go.
Then the Lobos threw out a Pit-inspired 11-0 run to grab a 58-56 lead with 3:14 to play. The Utes finally scored at the 2:11 mark to end a 6 minute, 24 second drought.
"I thought the crowd got us back into the game," said UNM coach Steve Alford. "I thought they were crucial for us getting some stops."
The win pushed Alford's Lobos to 16-4 overall and 3-2 in Mountain West Conference play.
A key for UNM was getting the Utes' 7-footer off the court.
Smith drew the fourth foul on Nevill by driving past the Ute and forcing Nevill to go for a block.
"He usually stays back which gives us a pull-up jump shot," Smith said. "But he came out and I used my quickness to get by him. I got my body under him and got the foul."
It was a big foul, too. It came with 1:03 left in regulation and UNM down 60-58. Smith made both shots to produce the 60-all tie that led to overtime.
"Knocking down free throws is huge," Smith said. "We practice them enough where we should knock them down."
The Lobos and the Utes marched into a five-minute overtime but Nevill was around for only 20 seconds.
UNM fed the ball inside to Faris, who pump faked Nevill off his feet and jumped into the contact. Faris also threw up the ball which rolled into the hole.
UNM and Utah were tied at 64-all with 3:29 to play, but the Lobos outscored Utah 13-3 the rest of the way.
Faris was one of five Lobos in double figures in scoring. J.R. Giddens and Chad Toppert each had 14 points, Smith added 12 and Dairese Gary finished with 10.
Nevill had nine rebounds, Giddens had eight and Faris had seven. Utah's Johnnie Bryant led all scorers with 25.
The Lobos next game is Saturday at Brigham Young.
"I don't think there was any point tonight (Tuesday) where we thought we were going to lose the game," Giddens said.
"When we're at home, we're confident. We knew what was going to happen.
