Reed’s 3-Pointer Puts Hawaii by New Mexico

The University of New Mexico basketball team has won 20 or more games in each of the past four seasons and still has managed to be overlooked come NCAA tournament time.

Now, thanks to a gutsy Hawaii team, the 20-victory Lobos likely will watch the announcement of the NCAA tournament bids Sunday and be ignored again.

Ray Reed hit twisting jumper from three-point territory at the top of the key with 34 seconds left to give sixth-seeded Hawaii a 68-67 victory over No. 3 New Mexico in the opening round of the Western Athletic Conference tournament in front of 6,249 fans Thursday in the Arena-Auditorium.

New Mexico (20-9) had a chance to win at the end, but Tim Shepherd blocked Rob Newton’s shot inside with 26 seconds left and, after the ball went out of bounds to the Lobos, guard Troy Bowe stole the ball for Hawaii (16-12).

“I’ve said all along that we needed to win the WAC tournament (to get an NCAA tourney invitation), and we weren’t able to do that,” New Mexico Coach Dave Bliss said. “The way we approached it, that was the only sure way. As far as I’m concerned, we blew it.”

Reed led Hawaii with 22 points. Luc Longley had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Lobos.

Brigham Young 69, Colorado State 56--The Cougars (18-12) were led by Shawn Bradley, BYU’s 7-6 freshman center, who had 16 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks in 30 minutes.

Colorado State (15-14) will miss postseason play for the first time in three years. BYU, meanwhile, doesn’t consider itself a lock for the NCAA tournament despite its second-place WAC standing.

“We talk about it some,” BYU Coach Roger Reid said. “We’re just going to take it a game at a time, though. We’re playing as good as we’ve played all year.”

Wyoming 71, Texas El Paso 67--Reggie Slater and Paris Bryant had 16 points apiece for host Wyoming (19-10), but the Cowboys won this game on the free-throw line. Wyoming made 21 of 24 free throws, and five of six in the final 4:00 minutes.

“If you get to the three- or four-minute mark and you’re ahead, your odds go up dramatically if you can hit your free throws,” Wyoming Coach Benny Dees said.