State

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team, which won both a share of the regular season title and the conference tournament title, was picked to finish third in the official Mountain West Preseason Media Poll. The media poll was released Monday. The Lobos were picked behind No. 20 San Diego State and No. 19 UNLV. The conference also released the preseason All-Mountain West teams, and for the third straight year, UNM is represented on the squad. Kendall Williams, a junior guard from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., is one of four juniors on the five-man preseason All-Conference team. Williams joins Chase Tapley and Jamaal Franklin of San Diego State, Deonta Burton of Nevada, and UNLV’s Mike Moser. Franklin was named Preseason Player of the Year and his teammate Dwayne Polee II was named the Co-Newcomer of the Year, along with Bryce Dejean-Jones of UNLV. UNLV’s Anthony Bennett was named Preseason Freshman of the Year. The Lobos picked up 122 points in the poll of 18 media members from around the Mountain West, two members from each of the nine media markets of the league. San Diego State received 10 first place votes to edge UNLV in the voting 153-151. The Rebels took the other eight first place votes.

  PREP FOOTBALL Atrisco Heritage 44, Rio Grande 0 Belen 53, Gallup 0 Bloomfield 48, Kirtland Central 0 Centennial High School 28, Socorro 21 Cleveland 42, Hobbs 0 Clovis 38, Sandia 34 Deming 22, EP Cathedral, Texas 14 Dora 65, Hondo 52 Escalante 46, Shiprock 20 Fort Sumner 36, Loving 6 Gadsden 31, Onate 24 Gateway Christian 48, Floyd 0

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The ninth-ranked University of New Mexico Lobos men’s soccer team lost at the hands of Air Force (6-6-1) for the second time in a week by the score of 2-1 Friday night. Air Force’s Caleb Downey scored the game-winner in the 75th minute for the Falcons. Downey also tallied the game-winner for Air Force in their overtime win at the UNM  Soccer Complex one week ago. The loss marks the first time New Mexico has lost to Air Force twice in a season since 2001. The Lobos suffered their third loss of the season and currently have a record of 9-3-0 (2-2-0 MPSF). They held the advantage in shots (16-11) and corner kicks (7-4) for the match, but it wouldn’t be enough to overcome the Falcons. The Lobos were out-shot by their opponent (6-5) in the first half for the first time since UNM’s double overtime win over UC Irvine Sept. 16. Of  New Mexico’s five shots, only Matthew Gibbon’s attempt in the ninth minute was on goal. New Mexico will look to bounce back in their second road match of the weekend. The Lobos will travel to Denver University to face the Pioneers this afternoon. UNM conceded the match’s first goal in the fifth minute on a 30-yard shot from Kevin Durr.

ALBUQUERQUE — On the heels of the program’s first regular-season loss at home in nearly two years, the fifth-ranked were looking for an answer at home against Denver University (5-3-3). The Lobos had to wait 106 minutes Sunday afternoon before getting the game’s only goal from Devon Sandoval. Sandoval, a senior from Albuquerque, recorded his fourth game-winning goal of the season after capitalizing on a defensive miscue by the Denver back line. A Pioneer defender misplayed a long Michael Calderon ball, which bounced long off his chest to Sandoval, who buried it for his eighth goal of the season. “I felt it was a deserving win, and I thought we played really well,” said Lobo head coach Jeremy Fishbein. “Today was eerily similar to Friday in that we created a lot of great chances but didn’t put them in the net.” Sandoval’s goal in double overtime ended a contest that saw the Lobos miss out on several scoring opportunities. UNM out-shot Denver 18-11 and held an 11-4 advantage in corner kicks. After a slow-paced opening ten minutes of play, the Lobos began to threaten on deep attacking runs. On several occasions Lobo players elected to pass instead of shoot.