Lobo alumni basketball game returning to the Pit

Geoff Grammer, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
·2 min read

Jun. 16—The last Lobo men's basketball game played in the Pit was Feb. 29, 2020.

It was a win over a Utah State team that went on to win the Mountain West Tournament the following week and qualify for the Mountain West Tournament.

More than 470 days later, as Lobo hoops diehards who went an entire season not getting to watch their team play in person and are now trying to learn the names of a roster full of new coaches and new players, a little throwback to the familiar days of yesteryear is coming to save the day.

Former UNM assistant Brandon Mason announced on Tuesday the return of a Lobo alumni all-star game to be played July 11 in the Pit.

One team in the game will be named Team J.B. White in honor of the Santa Fe High graduate shot and killed in August, just days before he was to move to Albuquerque and join the Lobos. The other will be named Team Kelvin Scarborough after the program legend who was a longtime coach in New Mexico after his playing days and used to coordinate similar alumni all-star games around the state. Scarborough died in December at the age of 56.

One team will be composed of former Lobos who will be on "The Enchantment" alumni team that is participating in July's TBT: The Basketball Tournament, a national winner-take-all tournament broadcast on ESPN. That team will include, among others, Darington Hobson, J.R. Giddens, Antino Jackson, Anthony Mathis, Pancake Thomas, Drew Gordon, Jamaal Smith, Phillip McDonald and Tim Williams and is coached by Kenny Thomas.

The other team will have numerous other former Lobos and other players from around New Mexico.

There will be a "Papa Brown" 3-point contest honoring Mike Brown, the Hall of Fame former Albuquerque Academy basketball coach who has been hospitalized much of the past year.

Mason noted Adrienne Palacio, a City Parks and Recreations program director with years of experience with the New Mexico Games, and Ryan Berryman, UNM associate athletic director and a former Lobo basketball manager and director of operations, are helping him put the event together.

Tickets for the event will be sold online at GoLobos.com/tickets (expected to be made available for sale sometime this week).