The Eagles (2-4), who won one of three tournament games, head home for a game Wednesday against Penn State.
Yesterday, they were bullied inside by Drew Gordon, who muscled his way to 21 points (9-of-14 shooting) and 11 rebounds, despite BC sending a double team to swarm the brawny 6-foot-9-inch forward each time he got the ball.
The Eagles also were beaten on the boards, 37-24, and outscored in the paint, 30-20.
BC stood less of a chance because of its offensive woes, shooting 35.1 percent (20 of 57) from the field and 34.6 percent (9 of 26) from behind the arc.
But the Eagles ripped off a 20-6 run to close within 62-54. New Mexico had half of its 16 turnovers during that stretch.
After a timeout, New Mexico’s Demetrius Walker scored on a two-handed dunk, then found Gordon underneath for a basket that pushed the lead back to double digits.
Eagles freshman guard Patrick Heckmann was stripped on his way to the basket, but Ryan Anderson countered by swatting a Gordon hook shot. Moments later, Gordon drew a foul on a two-handed stuff and completed the 3-point play to put his team ahead, 69-54, with 1:45 to play.
“I think that’s something that we can grow upon - they didn’t quit, they played hard,’’ Donahue said of his team.
“I thought we were really causing a lot of turnovers on a good team by playing our 1-3-1, and we just gave it a great effort. Never quit. We were down 22 and cut it to 8. That’s something that we’re going to have to do, unfortunately, quite a bit this year, is never give up. And when things aren’t going right, try to find a way. And I think our team did that.’’
BC never led and found itself behind at halftime, 41-25, after New Mexico’s Hugh Greenwood drilled a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The Lobos (4-2) had clear halftime advantages in points in the paint (16-4) and points off turnovers (10-1), and finished the game shooting 56.9 percent (29 of 51) from the field.
They also distributed the ball more effectively, doling out 24 assists to the Eagles’ 13.
