UA blasts 'shell-shocked' Lobos

Leigh-Anne Brown Arizona Daily Wildcat UA junior guard Jason Terry (31) shoots for three in Saturday's game against the Lobos. Terry sank 21 points for the Wildcats and made two assists in Arizona's 89-70 win over New Mexico.

For the last 20, they played like the teams that have fallen by the wayside on their recent eight-game losing streak: uninspired and unable to buy a basket.

"Defensively, in the first half, I think that we shell-shocked the Lobos with our quickness. They could not run anything they wanted to," Arizona head coach Lute Olson said. "I think that we lost some of our energy and that can happen when you have played with so much intensity in one half. We came out very passive in the second half and did not force them to do as many bad things.

"We would like to package the first half and play with that intensity all game."

The Wildcats shot just 39 percent in the second half, but after entering the locker room at halftime up 52-27, there was certainly room for error. And that room was provided mosly by the defense. UA forced 25 turnovers and allowed the Lobos just nine offensive rebounds.

"In the first half we came out hard and they couldn't run anything offensively," Arizona senior guard Miles Simon said. "In the second, we weren't finishing plays, we were missing easy shots that we should make."

Arizona started the game on a 10-0 run and was off to the races. Jason Terry typified the fifth-ranked Wildcats' hot shooting in the first half with 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting including a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the three-point line. He finished the game with 21 points and two assists.

"It's been an unbelievable week for J.T.," Olson said. "He's ignited us and he's really shooting the ball with confidence."

Sophomore point guard Mike Bibby led all scorers with 23 points on 9 of 12 shooting and added six assists and a five steals.

"I felt good tonight," Bibby said. "Things were dropping."

The much anticipated matchup between hometown rivals A.J. Bramlett and Kenny Thomas wasn't much in terms of statistics and Bramlett said the two, "canceled each other out."

"Defensively, I thought I did a good job," said Bramlett, who finished with just four points but had seven offensive rebounds and held Thomas to 3 of 11 shooting. "The shots weren't falling but my goal was to play good defense. I did what I needed to do to help us win the game."

With the win, the Wildcats improved to 15-3 overall. No. 15 New Mexico fell 13-3 overall.

Clayton Shields led New Mexico with 17 points. Thomas finished with 10 points and nine rebounds but just two of those were offensive.

Arizona forwards Bennett Davison and Gene Edgerson provided a spark for the Wildcats defensively as they tallied seven and 10 rebounds respectively. Davison also added 15 points

The Lobos hot three point shooting the second half - they were 8 of 14 - allowed them to close the gap down to 12 points, but the Wildcats finally closed the door with an 11-3 run late in the game.

"They came out and started hitting some shots," Bramlett said. "But we were able to put another run on them."