Greenwood leads New Mexico past Fresno St, 76-64

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) As the triggerman for New Mexico, Hugh Greenwood's offensive play often dictates how the Lobos are going to fare in scoring.

Greenwood, who finished with 16 points, was on target Wednesday against Fresno State and the result was a dominating shooting performance in a 76-64 New Mexico victory in the Mountain West opener for both schools.

''Greenwood makes big shots all the time,'' said Bulldogs coach Rodney Terry. ''He's a big-shot maker. Anytime he's shooting the ball really well for them, they go to another level in terms of how good they can be. And when you get (Deshawn) Delaney throwing in a couple of those, now you got problems. Give them a lot of credit. They made a lot of open shots.''

New Mexico connected on 59 percent from the field, including a scorching 8 of 10 from 3-point range, with Greenwood going 3 of 5 behind the arc.

''We were able to shoot it well tonight, shot it well above what we've ever shot, 8 of 10, because they were good shots,'' New Mexico coach Craig Neal said. ''They weren't forced shots. They weren't shots under duress. They weren't shots with people in our face and that's what we have to do to play good basketball.

Delaney contributed 12 points for the Lobos (9-4, 1-0) and Greenwood added five rebounds and five assists.

Marvelle Harris came off the bench to score 19 to lead the Bulldogs (5-9, 0-1).

New Mexico grabbed control of the game seven minutes into the first half with a 12-0 run to go up 24-16 and they would not trail again. Five different Lobos scored during the stretch, with Greenwood and Xavier Adams hitting 3-pointers. New Mexico opened up a first-half lead as big as 30-18 before the Bulldogs cut to 36-29 at halftime.

Fresno State cut it to 38-35 early in the second half, but Greenwood and Delaney combined to hit three consecutive 3-pointers four minutes in, fueling a 13-0 New Mexico run that pushed its lead to 53-38. It took its largest lead shortly thereafter at 56-40.

''We played good basketball in stretches for eight minutes at a time in the first half and eight minutes at the time in the second half where they had to use timeouts,'' Neal said.

While four Bulldogs reached double figures in scoring, no one else score more than four. And the Lobos' bench outscored Fresno State's 29-19, with Harris scoring all of those points. Julien Lewis added 14 for Fresno State and Paul Watson had 12.

---

TIP INS: New Mexico coach Craig Neal has not lost a home Mountain West opener since joining the program as an assistant in 2007. With his 19 points, Fresno State's Harris cracked the 1,000-point plateau for his career.

UP NEXT: New Mexico remains home to face No. 24 Colorado State on Saturday at 6 p.m. Fresno State returns home to play San Diego State, with Saturday's game time still to be determined.

INJURIES: New Mexico's Sam Logwood, who has missed the past three games with a shoulder sprain returned to action. He finished with five points.

DISCIPLINE, DISCIPLINE: Harris overslept was late to a practice so he didn't start for the Bulldogs, and Delaney and Jordan Goodman violated unspecified New Mexico team rules also were disciplined. Goodman didn't play at all and Delaney came off the bench in both halves, allowing walk-on guard Tim Jacobs to get the start.