by The New Mexico Lobos weathered a Vanderbilt comeback attempt in the second half, to cruise to a 75-66 victory. They became the first lower seed to win in Cleveland today. They will now go on to play the winner of the Michigan State versus Bryant game set to tip off shortly after this one wrapped up.
The Lobos were led by Donovan Dent with 21 while Nelly Joseph scored 19. This helped keep them ahead as the Marquette Golden Eagles got hot from long range, finishing with 11 from beyond the arc for 33 of the 66 Golden Eagle points, exactly half. That effort was led by David Joplin with 28 points while going 6 of 10 from downtown.
The Golden Eagles came back from an 8 point early hole to bring it to within 1 at 19-18 with 9:38 to go. From there, the Lobo’s got hot again and increased the lead to 26-18 with 6:14 left in the opening half. Both teams continued to trade punches for the remainder of the half until the Lobos got hot from long range to build the lead to 35-28 before the Golden Eagles finished the half on a 5-0 run to cut the Lobo lead to 35-32.
The game remained extremely tight in the second half as the Lobo’s and Golden Eagles continued to go back and forth, with the Lobo’s clinging to a 59-58 lead with 5:58 to play in the game. From there, the Lobos went on an 8-0 run to extend the lead to 67-58 with 3:37 to play. The Golden Eagles stopped the run with a David Joplin three from the corner with 2:56 left to play in regulation. The Lobo’s hung on for the 75-66 victory.
