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No. 19 Lobos rally to beat Creighton 66-61

Dec 20, 2009 - 5:37 AM ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.(AP) -- Even in its worst-shooting game of the season, No. 19 New Mexico managed to stay unbeaten.

Darington Hobson had 22 points and 16 rebounds, and helped the Lobos rally in the second half to beat Creighton 66-61 on Saturday night.

New Mexico (12-0) trailed by 16 points in the first half and still were down 40-28 at the break. But the Lobos opened the second half with a 17-4 run, taking their first lead at 45-44 on Hobson's putback with 11:47 left.

"You have to give Creighton a lot of credit for how they guarded us," Lobos coach Steve Alford said. "And we still find a way to win."

The teams traded the lead until Hobson's layup broke a 57-57 tie. Dairese Gary helped seal the victory with two steals in the final minute.

P'Allen Stinnett led the Bluejays (4-6) with 14 points.

Roman Martinez added 11 points and 10 rebounds for New Mexico, which struggled from the field all night. The Lobos finished 20 of 67 from the floor, including 3 of 15 on 3-pointers in the first half.

Martinez had one of the game's bigger plays with about a minute left. After Hobson missed two foul shots, Martinez slipped underneath, grabbed the rebound and quickly fed it back to Hobson for a dunk to increase the lead to 61-57.

"We have a senior that just won't let this team lose," Alford said of Martinez. "He dives on the floor to get a huge loose ball that leads to a basket. Darington misses two free throws and he gets the rebound off that and throws it to Darington."

The play was indicative of how the Lobos came back. They had a 22-7 advantage on the offensive glass, and the Bluejays committed 18 turnovers to five for New Mexico.

"We're really disappointed," Creighton coach Dana Altman said. "We played a pretty good first half. We had them off-balance with the zone. They're a great shooting team and they missed some shots. I thought we kind of had them off-balance. But the offensive rebounds, obviously, that they got kept us on defense. And then some poor turnovers."