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Williams explodes, Lobos knock off Colorado State

Feb 24, 2013 - 1:44 AM Fort Collins, CO (Sports Network) - Kendall Williams nearly doubled his career-best scoring effort with 46 points, and the 16th-ranked New Mexico Lobos ended the third-longest home-winning streak in the nation by downing No. 22 Colorado State, 91-82, Saturday at Moby Arena.

"Well, it was just an incredible individual effort," Lobos head coach Steve Alford said. "For one. 10 threes, 46 points, and not just that, but doing it on the road. Hostile environment, 27-game win streak, playing against a very good defensive team."

Williams, whose previous high was 24 points, made good on 12-of-16 attempts from the field -- including a scorching 10-for-13 from 3-point distance -- to help the Lobos (23-4, 10-2 MWC) take a stranglehold of first place in the Mountain West.

"We had no answer for them," Rams head coach Larry Eustachy said. "We couldn't stop them. The score's a little misleading because we had to foul, but any time you score 82 points you should be winning the game."

Alex Kirk added 19 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks for New Mexico, while Tony Snell contributed 10 points in the win.

The Rams (21-6, 8-4) suffered their first home loss since a Nov. 19, 2011 setback against Southern Miss, ending a 27-game run.

In Colorado State's second straight loss overall, Colton Iverson poured in 26 points and hauled in 15 rebounds. Wes Eikmeier followed with 22 points and Dorian Green made four 3-pointers en route to 20 points in the setback.

Colorado State ended a closely contested first half with a 41-38 lead and padded its advantage early on in the second stanza.

Eikmeier scored 11 straight points for Colorado State, canning a pair of triples and finishing a three-point play during the stretch. Dorian Green then scored a layup to put the Rams ahead 57-50 with just under 14 minutes left, but the Lobos came storming back on Williams' shooting touch.

Williams, who had 20 points in the first half, began a 28-15 push with a 3- pointer and ended it with three in a row from long distance for the Lobos, staking them to a 78-72 advantage with just over two minutes to play.

After starting the second half well, the Rams would finish the stanza shooting just 34.1 percent (14-of-41).

Iverson's layup cut the deficit to 78-74, but he would miss three consecutive free throws down the stretch, which allowed New Mexico to bump its edge to eight points with under a minute remaining, sealing the victory.

Game Notes

New Mexico leads the all-time series 71-43 ... The Lobos shot 20-for-24 from the free throw line in the second half ... Colorado State owned the advantage in the paint, 36-20, and had 20 offensive rebounds, helping them to 26 second chance points ... There were 10 ties and the lead changed hands 12 times throughout the contest.