GAME NOTES: Coming off an upset win over the weekend, the New Mexico Lobos now prepare themselves for another major Mountain West Conference battle against the San Diego State Aztecs at Viejas Arena on Tuesday night.

One of three teams in the MWC to kick off the league schedule with consecutive wins, the Lobos won for the seventh time in eight tries on Saturday as they easily dismissed 24th-ranked Colorado State at home, 66-53. With the win, UNM finds itself tied with Wyoming and Utah State at the top of the MWC standings, with a meeting against the latter program set for this coming weekend in Logan, Utah.

As for the Aztecs, they were nationally-ranked earlier this season but have since become just another solid competitor in the league. On Saturday, the program traveled to Fresno with a four-game win streak and left the Save Mart Center with a 59-57 setback versus a Bulldogs team that was just 5-9 heading into the contest.

With respect to a series that began back in 1976, the Lobos are ahead by a count of 44-34, although SDSU has claimed victory in 23 of the 35 matchups played on its home floor. The teams split a pair of regular-season matchups in 2013-14, and then New Mexico took out the Aztecs in the MWC Tournament, 64-58, in Las Vegas in the middle of March.

In handing the Rams their first loss of the season, New Mexico got a surprising contribution from reserve Sam Logwood who tallied 15 points in 20 minutes of work, hitting all five of his field goal tries, one from 3-point range, and 4-of-4 at the free-throw line as well. The only other double-digit scorer for New Mexico was Devon Williams who tallied 13 points, while the rest of the starters connected on a woeful 5-of-18 from the field. The Lobos secured the win despite shooting only 10-of-19 at the free-throw line and clearing four offensive rebounds.

Logwood, who has come off the bench in all 11 games in which he has seen action, is now averaging 4.3 ppg on a mere 37.8 percent accuracy from the floor, so you can see why his performance against CSU was so surprising. Deshawn Delaney and Hugh Greenwood continue to be the active leading scorers with 13.6 and 10.6 ppg, respectively, while they await the return of Cullen Neal (17.0 ppg) who played just three games early on before being sidelined with a sprained left ankle.

Once again playing without Dwayne Polee who is dealing with an illness, the Aztecs started out poorly at Fresno State with just seven field goals through 20 minutes, digging themselves a 15-point hole at the break. The outlook was much brighter in the second half as the visitors converted 60.9 percent from the field and 7-of-10 beyond the arc, but 18 turnovers and just 7-of-13 at the free-throw line proved too much to overcome.

Aqeel Quinn produced 18 points, reserve Matt Shrigley 14 points as he connected on 4-of-5 behind the 3-point line, and Winston Shepard 12 points before fouling out.

Like the Lobos, SDSU is a defensive-minded program which explains why there is just a single player scoring in double figures at the moment, with Shepard posting 10.8 ppg. Polee's absence has taken the team down a notch, but the squad might actually be better off without him when you consider that he has converted only 31.0 percent of his field goals and 20.4 percent behind the 3- point line for a program generating 62.4 ppg.

With the Lobos holding opponents to just 37.9 percent success from the field and 27.0 percent accuracy behind the 3-point line, this meeting has all the makings of a defensive struggle for both sides. However, home continues to be a positive environment for San Diego State and the team should be able to keep up with anyone when they are hitting their marks.