Motivation fueled House and Mashburn’s duel against CSU, Stevens

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — On Wednesday, there was a lot of hype for Colorado State point guard Isaiah Stevens, who is ranked as one of the best in the conference and best in the U.S.

However, Lobos Jaelen House and Jamal Mashburn Jr. showed they are too.

“It was personal so I was trying to get on his head,” House said. “This was an important game for me. A lot of people have been saying Stevens is better than me and I just wanted to go out there and show them he’s not better than me. I’m not taking anything away from him but you know this is personal.”

“I took it personally too. I mean, you know players like that, you always wanna play against he’s a tremendous player and I’m glad he’s back healthy and getting back healthy and stuff like that because he’s a great player for this conference,” Mashburn said, “but yeah, I definitely took it personally because you want to see where you are with the best guys and I think I’m one of the best and we’re one of the best. We just got to keep plugging away and keep competing and doing the things we know how to do.”

The Lobos’ Wednesday night win puts them at 13-0 for the first time in 55 years. It’s the second-best start in program history since they went 17-0 in 1967.

“We’re hunting teams still too, though, you know it’s revenge season from last year,” House added. “We had a bad year and now we’re trying to turn this thing around.”

The next game for the UNM Lobos is Saturday, December 31, on the road against Wyoming. Then, it’s off to Fresno State for a game Tuesday, January 3.