GAME NOTES: The New Mexico Lobos try to remain in the hunt for the top spot in the Mountain West Conference standings as they challenge the Boise State Broncos at WisePies Arena on Sunday.

The Lobos, who entered the weekend tied with both Fresno State and Wyoming for first in the league at 4-1, have won two straight outings and four of the last five, with the lone setback coming against San Diego State on the road, 56-42, a little under two weeks ago. On Wednesday night UNM turned the tables on Air Force at home, 60-48.

The Broncos went from winning six straight non-conference bouts to losing four in a row, three of which were in conference. Thankfully, Boise State has put an end to the bleeding thanks to an 82-73 overtime triumph versus UNLV at Taco Bell Arena on Tuesday. The Broncos have one less win overall than UNM, but the team is in the bottom half of the MWC standings.

New Mexico has won all three previous meetings between the teams played in Albuquerque and is 6-1 overall versus the Broncos. The teams split a pair of regular-season matchups in 2013-14. The Broncos captured their very first victory with a narrow 71-70 decision at home the second week of February. However, UNM more than returned the favor by ushering BSU out of the MWC Tournament in Las Vegas a month later, 70-67.

In a game that featured four ties and 10 lead changes, the Broncos managed to get to overtime against UNLV and then held the visitors to just a single field goal in the five-minute span. Derrick Marks erupted for a game-high 28 points on 12-of-26 shooting from the field, followed by Mikey Thompson with 13 and six boards as he sank only three of his chances from the field.

James Webb II hit the glass in a big way for Boise State, coming up with several key put-backs as he cleared a game-high 15 rebounds and accounted for 12 points, followed by Nick Duncan with 10 points and another seven rebounds.

Marks has become the go-to-guy on offense for the Broncos with his 17.8 ppg, shooting better from 3-point range (.533) than he is from the field overall (.510). Thompson (9.6 ppg) and Webb II (9.3 rpg) have been tasked with picking up some of the slack left by Anthony Drmic (15.0 ppg) who appeared in only seven games before suffering an injury that required season-ending surgery.

A close game in the first half as both the Lobos and Air Force made a combined 15 field goals, New Mexico opened up the meeting in the second half with 55.0 percent accuracy from the field and 14-of-19 at the free-throw line in order to capture the double-digit win in The Pit. Sam Logwood was responsible for a game-high 17 points, while Hugh Greenwood posted 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals, although he shot just 2-of-10 from the floor (all beyond the arc). Arthur Edwards produced another 10 points in only 13 minutes off the bench.

Greenwood, one of three players to have started every game for BSU, has a habit of running hot and cold from one game to the next. He is averaging 11.0 ppg, the second-highest active scorer behind Deshawn Delaney (12.8 ppg) but he has shot a miserable 30.6 percent from the floor. The issue with Greenwood is that a large portion of his 186 field goal tries have come from 3-point range where he is only 29.8 percent accurate, the team 303. percent, yet that's still better than the competition at 27.5 percent on the outside.

Few teams are able to escape The Pit with a win these days, although it is possible. However, without someone like Drmic to help produce on offense, Boise State is at a severe disadvantage that might prove to be costly on Sunday.