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New Mexico follows Cincinnati win with loss at St. Louis

Jim Crews

Saint Louis interim head coach Jim Crews watches from the sidelines during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Santa Clara Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

AP

Well, this isn’t the way you follow an impressive win.

Coming off a big win on the road at Cincinnati, New Mexico trailed 33-13 at halftime and left St. Louis with a 60-46 loss.

The Lobos shot 31.8-percent from the field and some of the key weapons for New Mexico had off nights. Tony Snell finished with five points on 1-for-4 shooting while New Mexico committed 21 turnovers. The 46 points are by far the lowest of the season for New Mexico, who has lost two of their past three games after starting the season 12-0.

St. Louis got 15 points from Cory Remekun and 12 from Mike McCall, Jr. It wasn’t a great offensive night for the Billikens, in fact, it was pedestrian. They shot 40.4-percent from the field and 23.8-percent from three.

The Billikens have turned it on lately, defensively, and this game makes them look even more legit. The Lobos are the fourth straight opponent that St. Louis has held under 50 points.

Mainly, it was just that bad a start for the Lobos, whose bench finished with nine total points.

Seems like a classic case of post-big-game letdown. They spent it all on one game — in fairness, one that will look a lot better than this loss to St. Louis will look, bad — and now they’ve got little left in the tank.

The loss hurts, but it’s nothing that, in the long term, New Mexico can’t get past. And it doesn’t get any easier, they have UNLV at home in their Mountain West Conference opener on Jan. 9.

Big ups to the Billikens, who get a great win against a great opponent to spruce up the non-conference resume.

David Harten is a sportswriter and college basketball blogger. You can follow him on Twitter at @David_Harten.