Wednesday, March 5, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
The University of New Mexico men's basketball program, by most accounts strictly a two-dimensional team this season, entered into another realm Tuesday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The 14th-ranked Lobos, so stingy within the confines of their warm and friendly Pit but remarkably enigmatic and lethargic away from it, headed into uncharted territory against San Jose State in the first round of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament.
Until Tuesday, the line could easily be drawn between the Lobos' dark half and their brighter half, evidenced by an 18-0 record inside the Pit and a 4-6 mark in hostile environments. UNM had not ventured onto a neutral court -- that so-called third dimension -- until Tuesday night.
However, the Thomas & Mack might just as well have doubled for the Pit as far as the Lobos were concerned, because New Mexico set a WAC Tournament record with 42 field goals in a 103-70 shellacking of the Spartans.
New Mexico (23-6) earned a visit to the quarterfinals, where it squares off with Hawaii at 9 p.m. Thursday.
It wasn't so much the losses on the road that UNM was stung by as it was the average margin of the losses -- in the six games, UNM fell by an average of 15.8 points. San Jose State (13-14) could only offer futile resistance.
"San Jose State is so difficult to get ready for," Lobos' coach Dave Bliss said. "I saw (Spartan head coach) Stan Morrison tonight, and you sometimes forget they are in our league."
They are, but then again, they really aren't. San Jose State and New Mexico may both be proud WAC members, but the programs are not at all equals.
The Lobos would make this point abundantly clear in the game's initial moments, when it scored the first eight points. New Mexico, the defending WAC Tournament champion, bolted to a 28-13 lead midway through the first half and shot a sizzling 65.6 percent in the first 20 minutes (21 of 32).
So consistent were the Lobos that after halftime they duplicated that effort (21 of 32) and broke a 7-year-old WAC record for field goals in a tournament game. Texas-El Paso made 39 in the 1989 event.
"The moment is New Mexico's moment," Morrison said. "They played a great game."
The Lobos weren't padding their shooting percentage with easy shots, either. New Mexico shot 55 percent from the 3-point line (11 of 20).
"I can't say enough about their team shooting," Morrison said. "Their consistency and offensive play was absolutely remarkable."
Junior guard Royce Olney set a career high with 19 points, including 15 on 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Freshman Lamont Long led the way with 22 points and 11 rebounds, with sophomore center Kenny Thomas adding 18 points.
San Jose State junior forward Olivier Saint-Jean scored 23 points, but only eight in the pivotal first half. The Lobos negated Saint-Jean by rotating four or five players on him.
"It didn't frustrate me at all," Saint-Jean said. "Their defense was good, I have to admit that, but there's a lot of things we did wrong. If you do the wrong things against a talented team, you won't be successful."
Saint-Jean definitely was on Bliss' mind.
"We don't need him running unattended," he said.
* SOUTHERN METHODIST 93, COLORADO STATE 89: The Mustangs (16-11) upset the Rams (20-9), but had to hold off CSU after amassing a 19-point lead at halftime. CSU pulled within four points with 31 seconds left, but SMU canned its free throws when it needed to and now faces top-seeded Utah in Thursday's quarterfinals. "This was a great win for our team and our program," SMU coach Mike Dement said. "It's good to stay around and play another game." The Mustangs were hot in the first half from long range, making 8 of 13 behind the 3-point line. Colorado State, meanwhile, wasted an outstanding shooting night. The Rams were 15 of 23 from 3-point land. Guard Jameel Mahmud had eight of them and led CSU with 30 points. Five Mustangs reached double figures, led by Stephen Woods' 22. Jemeil Rich added 21.
* TCU 72, WYOMING 61: The Horned Frogs overcame a 15-point second-half deficit to advance to the quarterfinals against Fresno State. TCU (19-11) trailed 49-34 with 11:29 left, but ran off the next eight points and continued to gather momentum along the way. TCU overtook the Cowboys (12-17) with 5:04 to go on Malcolm Johnson's dunk for a 56-55 lead, but didn't go ahead for good until a tip-in by Dennis Davis with 2:16 to go for a 60-59 advantage. It was part of a 12-0 TCU run that killed Wyoming. "I thought that the defense we got really turned the game around," TCU coach Billy Tubbs said. "Our defense held them about four or five consecutive times." Horned Frogs' guard Mike Jones, who led TCU with 25 points, said perseverance was important. "We never gave up and really kept the intensity going," he said. "Everything seemed to snowball for us, (but) we got a couple of easy shots and just kept doing what we had been on defense and everyone really pulled together." The loss marked Joby Wright's final game as Wyoming's head coach. It was announced Monday that Wright was resigning at season's end. HL Coleman led the Cowboys with 20 points. Jeron Roberts added 19.
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