A Pitiful Effort for New Mexico

Of all the teams that would venture into The Pit in Albuquerque to play New Mexico this season, the last one that figured to come out with a victory was Brigham Young--a winner of only one of 26 games last season.

But in a bizarre twist of fortunes, BYU stunned No. 16 New Mexico, 83-62, Thursday night and ended the nation’s second-longest home winning streak at 41 games. Kansas has the longest active home winning streak of 60 games.

BYU, 8-20 overall and 3-10 in the Western Athletic Conference, also handed Utah one of its two losses this season. The Cougars were 18-point losers to New Mexico (21-5, 11-2) at Provo, Utah, on Jan. 29 but took a 46-28 halftime lead in this game by making six consecutive three-point shots and never let the Lobos get closer than eight points in the second half.

Justin Weidauer led BYU with 22 points, making nine of 10 shots. Danny Bower had 17 points and made five of the Cougars’ season-high 12 three-point baskets.

New Mexico was outrebounded, 36-25, and missed 20 of 28 three-point shots. The Lobos have lost two games since guard Royce Olney suffered a season-ending knee injury.

No. 5 Utah 71, Texas El Paso 49--The Utes (24-2, 11-2) led by as many as 26 points in the WAC game at El Paso.

Only two Utes scored in double figures--Michael Doleac (15 points) and Andre Miller (10)--but held Texas El Paso (12-13, 3-10) to 35% shooting.

Utah closes its WAC regular-season schedule against New Mexico Saturday at Salt Lake City.

No. 15 Texas Christian 57, Tulsa 54--The Horned Frogs (25-4, 13-0 in the WAC), averaging 101.3 points a game, scored their fewest points of the season and shot only 34.4% but still increased their winning streak to a school-record 14 games at Tulsa, Okla.

Eric Coley put Tulsa (17-11, 8-5) ahead 54-53 with a basket with 19.8 seconds left, but TCU’s Lee Nailon accounted for the game’s final points with a basket and two free throws.

A capacity crowd of 8,564 at the Tulsa Convention Center frequently booed TCU Coach Billy Tubbs, who as Oklahoma coach swore publicly after an 1985 loss never to return to Tulsa.

No. 17 Cincinnati 68, North Carolina Charlotte 67-- Kenyon Martin’s basket with eight-tenths of second left gave the Bearcats (22-5, 13-2) the Conference USA victory over the 49ers (16-9, 12-3) at Cincinnati.

Martin rebounded Ruben Patterson’s missed three-point shot with four seconds left, went back up and made a short shot. Sean Colson’s half-court heave went off the shot clock above the basket at the buzzer.

No. 23 Syracuse 76, Pittsburgh 61--Sophomore center Etan Thomas scored a career-high 25 points at Syracuse, N.Y., as the Orangemen (21-7, 11-6) clinched an opening-round bye in next week’s Big East tournament. The game was a makeup from Dec. 30, when a snowstorm prevented Pittsburgh from getting to Syracuse.

Isaac Hawkins, also a sophomore center, had a career-high 32 points for Pittsburgh (11-14, 6-11).