Jan 25, 2003
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Javin Tindall hit a season-high five 3-pointers and Mark Walters scored his only field goal of the game with 3.3 seconds left Saturday as New Mexico beat San Diego State 66-62 Saturday.
Tindall, who hit 6 of 7 shots, finished with 17 points. His final 3-pointer of the night, with 3:16 remaining, gave New Mexico a 63-58 lead and ended the Lobos' late second-half scoring drought.
San Diego State (11-6, 2-2 Mountain West) scored 10 straight points while New Mexico (7-9, 1-2 MWC) was going without a field goal for more than five minutes. The Aztecs' run erased most of a 59-46 lead that New Mexico had built with 8:56 left in the game.
A basket by SDSU's Tony Bland got the Aztecs within 60-58. Tindall then connected from behind the arc. After Walters and Aztec John Sharper missed the front end of one-and-one foul shots, Mike Mackell scored with 47 seconds left on a bank shot to again get the Aztecs within a point.
New Mexico's Ruben Douglas, who scored 21 points despite hitting just 4 of 17 field goals, then missed a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left, the shot barely hitting the backboard.
San Diego State then got the ball to the 6-foot-9, 250-pound Mackell. He drove inside, then threw a pass that went off teammate Evan Burns' hands out of bounds.
On the inbound play, Lobo Ryan Ashcraft fired a length of the floor pass to a wide open Walters for a layup. Walters then intercepted an SDSU pass and added a free throw with 1 second left.
New Mexico led through most of the game, thanks to the shooting of Tindall and Jamaal Williams, who added 13 points. While Douglas had trouble from the field, he was 10-for-10 at the free throw line as the Lobos hit 17 of their first 18 free throws.