Kats wrap season with loss to Lobos in NIT

Wednesday, March 18

Albuquerque, N.M.

8:00 PM

22-12,13-7CUSA

107

New Mexico

24-10,13-7Mountain West

Sam Houston

New Mexico

107

Kats wrap season with loss to Lobos in NIT

3/18/2026 10:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico shot the lights out to hand Sam Houston a 107-83 setback in the opening round of the NIT on Wednesday evening at The Pit.

The Bearkats (22-12) scraped and clawed, but the Lobos seemed to have an answer every time Sam Houston had a chance to chip away at the lead. Despite the season-ending loss, the Kats still won more than 20 games for the second time in the past three seasons.

Redshirt sophomore CJ Beaumont led the Kats with 22 points, and freshman Jacob Walker scored 15. Senior Damon Nicholas Jr. added 12 points, Kashie Natt finished with 15 and Veljko Ilic posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.

The Lobos used an 11-4 run to open the second half to pull away up 62-43 after leading by 11 points at the intermission. Sam Houston cut it 69-54 on a basket by freshman Matt Dann but never got any closer the rest of the way.

The Bearkats shot the ball well, hitting 49 percent from the floor. New Mexico was better on Wednesday, making 53 percent of its shot attempts and 13 3-pointers.

New Mexico was in control early when Sam Houston finally started to settle in.

Beaumont sparked a 6-0 run with a dunk off a pass from Ilic, who followed with a paint jumper. Nicholas took advantage of a defensive stop and laid one off the glass on the other end to make it 38-28 with 5:50 to go in the opening period.

The Lobos answered with a 4-0 run until Beaumont and Coleman hit back-to-back corner 3s to trim it to 42-34. Another 3 by Beaumont got the Kats within seven, but New Mexico closed out the half strong to go into the break on top 51-39.