New Mexico loses heartbreaker to Rice when timeout earns technical
New Mexico forward Tim Williams called timeout Saturday night in the final second of a tie game with Rice and instantly regretted it. The Lobos didn’t have a timeout to call.
A few moments later when Egor Koulechov hit a technical free throw for Rice with 0.01 seconds on the clock to give the Owls an improbable 90-89 victory, Williams hurt even more.
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Williams scored 18 points for New Mexico, including 14 in the second half, but his costly mental error in the final second will be what is remembered from this one. Well, that and the fact the Lobos allowed a Rice team that is now 5-6 to come into The Pit and earn a victory by coming back from a 16-point deficit.
The Lobos 18 turnovers were a big help.
It’s too bad this one had to end the way it did for Williams because there was plenty of blame to go around for the Lobos’ collapse. Guarding Koulechov seemed to be the biggest problem. The 6-foot-5 guard from Russia scored a season-high 32 points and made six of 10 3-pointers.
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Of course, any time this situation comes up with a player calling a timeout his team doesn’t have, memories are stirred of the 1993 national championship game in which Michigan’s Chris Webber did it so famously.
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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
