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GAME NOTES: Coming off one of their toughest outings of the season, the 10th- ranked New Mexico Lobos start a brief two-game road trip against Colorado State tonight at Moby Arena in Fort Collins.

The Lobos, who enter the day leading the Mountain West Conference over BYU, have had some very tough outings over the last few weeks, three of which were decided by three points or less. On Saturday afternoon Air Force, which UNM dominated in the first meeting of the season (73-50), refused to go away quietly in Albuquerque and battled the Lobos to the end in a thrilling 59-56 final. The win was the 11th in a row for UNM and its 16th in 17 conference games this season.

As for the Rams, they had their weakest offensive showing of the season on Saturday as they were humbled by UNLV in a 70-39 final. The defeat was the second in a row for CSU, which is now an even 6-6 in conference.

New Mexico crushed the Rams in the first meeting of the season last month with an 82-64 victory in The Pit, which means the Lobos now lead the all-time series by a count of 65-41.

Down by a point with under 30 seconds remaining, the Lobos turned to Darington Hobson and Dairese Gary to get them over the hump against Air Force on Saturday. Hobson converted a layup with 16 seconds to play and Gary a pair of free throws in the waning moments to give the home team the three-point win. In a game that saw seven ties and eight lead changes, the Lobos were led by Hobson with his 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while Roman Martinez was the only other player in double figures with 10 points. The squad shot just 40.9 percent from the floor and 5-of-22 behind the three-point line, but survived because they turned the ball over just six times. The importance of Hobson, a transfer from the College of Eastern Utah, cannot be overstated given all that he has done for the Lobos this season. One of five players to have started all 28 games for head coach Steve Alford, Hobson leads the club in scoring (15.5 ppg), rebounding (8.8 rpg) and assists (129), so really the only area that he needs to work on is his free-throw shooting (.658). Then again, the entire team could use some extra reps at the charity stripe where it is converting just 67.7 percent at the moment.

Against a UNLV team that had something to prove over the weekend, the Rams never stood a chance at the Thomas & Mack Center as the visitors converted a feeble 4-of-25 shots from the floor in the first half and just 7-of-25 after the break. In all, CSU shot a dismal 22 percent from the floor and had four more turnovers (15) than made field goals. Not surprisingly, the squad failed to place a single player in double figures as Andy Ogide made a run at it with his eight points, to go along with 12 rebounds. Along with both Adam Nigon and Dorian Green, all three shot just 2-of-7 from the floor on the afternoon. Leading the team in scoring at the moment with his 12.4 ppg is Green, but his points have come at a cost since he is shooting just 34.8 percent from the floor. Ogide checks in with 11.4 ppg of his own and, unlike Green, has shown the ability to perform from the field at a 53.5 percent clip while coming up with just over six rebounds per game as well. Unfortunately, when it comes to conference action, the Rams are being outscored by the competition by more than five points per game entering the week.

This is the time when coach Alford has to give his Lobos a pep talk and make sure they do not take another opponent lightly because it will come back to haunt them down the road. That being said, expect to see UNM take apart the Rams in an effort to show that it still is the team to beat in the MWC.