ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The Arizona men's basketball team learned something about The Pit on Saturday night during its 84-77 loss to New Mexico.

It learned why Street & Smith's magazine calls the arena "the black hole of college basketball."

The Wildcats (2-1) and their No. 11 ranking were drawn into the jaws of the 19th-ranked Lobos in Albuquerque, N.M., this weekend, and they were chewed up and spit out.

It was three-pointers in the first half and free throws in the second that propelled the Lobos (5-0) to victory in front of 18,018 fans.

"This was the best New Mexico team I've seen since I've been here," UA head coach Lute Olson said. "I was pleased that our guys kept coming back. They didn't give up."

The Wildcats spent almost the entire game trailing the Lobos, tying them only once in the second half at 65-65.

The Lobos built a 50-38 lead at the start of the second half, but Arizona slowly whittled it away, with sophomore forward A.J. Bramlett and junior forward Bennett Davison leading the charge.

Arizona tied the game with 6:43 left on a free throw by sophomore center Donnell Harris. The Lobos responded when junior forward Clayton Shields, who led New Mexico with 20 points, sunk a three-pointer.

Lobo sophomore center Kenny Thomas made a nice spin move for a layup under the basket to expand the lead to 71-65, and then Bramlett, Thomas' former high school nemesis, made two consecutive layups to pull the Wildcats back within two.

The pivotal play of the game came when Lobo junior point guard David Gibson, who had shut down Arizona freshman Mike Bibby for most of the game, hit a fade-away jumper with 2:22 to go. Shields then stole the ball from junior forward Michael Dickerson, ran the length of the court, and slammed home two more points. It sent the always-vocal Lobo crowd into a frenzy.

"The biggest shot was David Gibson's fade-away," UNM coach Dave Bliss said.

The game then became a free-throw contest, one which the Lobos dominated. They hit 16 of 23 free throws in the second half; the Wildcats made 11 of 17.

When asked what led to his team's defeat, Olson shrugged.

"Shooting, mostly free throw shooting," he said. "You can't give a good club like this those opportunities. It was like turning the ball over every time we let them go to the line."

The Lobos made 7 of 13 three-pointers in the first half but were only 2 of 10 in the second.

Olson's frustration boiled over in the first half when he was called for a technical foul with 3:25 left. His anger stemmed from an earlier charging call against Bibby that Olson thought was wrong. At the time of the technical, Bibby was knocked to the floor by Thomas with no foul called.

"I thought our guys fought very hard," Olson said. "It's a game that's going to be good for us down the line."

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