Nov. 14, 2004

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Mark Walters and Kris Collins each scored 19 points and New Mexico, off to its best start in six years, beat Duquesne 82-74 in the NABC Classic Sunday.

New Mexico (3-0) beat North Carolina A&T, Santa Clara and Duquesne in the three-day round robin. It's the Lobos' best start since going 8-0 at the start of the 1998-99 season, the last time New Mexico made it to the NCAA tournament.

Duquesne (1-2) had a pair of early leads and hung close the rest of the way. A 15-foot jumper by Keith Gayden got the Dukes within 35-33 with 19:05 left in the game, but that's as close as Duquesne would come to a lead in the final 20 minutes.

Martin Osimani led Duquesne with 16 points. Bryant McAllister scored 15, Jack Higgins 12 and Kieron Achara 10.

Collins had a seal and scored on a layup after Gayden's basket and Walters, who sat out the final nine minutes of the first half with two fouls, hit his third 3-pointer of the game. A steal by Walters set up a free throw by Collins that upped the Lobos' lead to 41-33 with 17:14 left.

Walters, fully recovered from a knee injury that slowed him down last year, hit his first six shots Sunday. He, Collins and Alfred Neale carried New Mexico's offense on a night when Danny Granger, the team's leading scorer and rebounder a year ago, wasn't much of a factor.

Collins got 15 of his points in the second half and Neale scored 17 points and went 4-for-4 on 3-pointers. Neale also went 4-for-4 from behind the arc on Saturday night when New Mexico set a school record with 20 3-pointers in a 93-59 win over Santa Clara.

Granger, held to four free throws in the first half, finished with 14 points. He hit just 3 of 8 shots and also struggled at the free throw line, going 7-for-13.

Walters, a junior who also had 19 points against Santa Clara, had back-to-back double figure scoring games for the first time since the last three games of his freshman season.