Furstinger, New Mexico beat Wyoming 85-75 in MWC Tournament

Mar 9, 2018, 07:04 am

LAS VEGAS -- Joe Furstinger scored 15 of his career-high 23 points in the second half and grabbed nine rebounds to help New Mexico beat Wyoming 85-75 on Thursday night in the Mountain West Conference Tournament.

Troy Simons had 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and Antino Jackson scored 11 for third-seeded New Mexico.

The Lobos (17-14) will play No. 7 seed Utah State, which knocked off second-seeded Boise State, in the semifinals on Friday.

Jackson and Anthony Mathis hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 10-1, Furstinger capped a 6-0 spurt that pushed the lead to 13 points with 11 1/2 minutes left in the first half and New Mexico never trailed.

Alan Herndon's dunk with 2:55 to play capped a 10-3 run and pulled No. 6 seed Wyoming (20-13) within 76-73 but Furstinger answered with a 3-point play and the Cowboys missed their final six field-goal attempts as the Lobos closed on a 9-2 run.

Herndon led Wyoming with 19 points.

New Mexico outscored the Cowboys 20-10 from the free-throw line, outrebounded Wyoming 38-27 and committed just seven turnovers.