Ledes from the Land of Enchantment

January 17 Sports desk

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Owen Smaulding played for Albuquerque High’s senior football team in the early 1900s. Smaulding even led this team to a show win over UNM Lobos in 1917. He was an outstanding multi-sportsman who achieved a lot even in times of racism and oppression.

Albuquerque High honors Owen Smaulding years later

“Not only is he overcoming the obstacles of playing multiple sports, he’s also overcoming the obstacles he faces in his daily community life. As you say, you live in a segregated America at this time. The only two people that come to mind when I think of this type of athlete who could really do anything would be Jim Brown or Bo Jackson,” said AHS football coach Tim Johnson.

New Mexico United announced on Monday the addition of Masaki Hemmi to the technical staff. Hemmi, who calls himself “Mac”, was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan and moved to Carlsbad at the age of 16, then to Las Cruces a year later. He has played and coached for clubs in four countries and three continents and has returned to New Mexico to serve in the role of first assistant coach for New Mexico United.

Zach Gentry, a graduate of Eldorado High School, has completed his third season in the NFL. Genry and the Pittsburgh Steelers lost to Kansas City in Sunday night’s NFL Wildcard Round. Gentry played in 17 games this season and started 12, totaling 19 receptions and 167 yards.

UNM men’s basketball is currently in four lost games after losing 71-63 at home to Boise State on Saturday. A little over 8,000 fans were in attendance for Saturday’s loss to Boise State, and while fan attendance at the pit is currently declining, head coach Richard Pitino is hoping this team can catch up.

“We know what this place can be and I think a pandemic certainly has a lot to do with it at the moment but we want to play in front of a full box. We saw it early on but you have to win and that’s the bottom line. So we’re gonna, we’re gonna make it We just have to stay positive and keep working, but they worked, they were good,” said Richard Pitino.

UNM is now 7-10 overall and 0-4 in conference play this season. They will play Colorado State next Wednesday at 8 p.m., this game will be shown on CBS Sports Network.

UNM Women’s Basketball also played last Saturday, but this Lobo team notched up their seventh straight win. UNM find their move at the right time as they currently sit atop the Mountain West charts with a 15-4 overall record and a 5-0 record in conference play. UNM will host Fresno State at 2:00 p.m. Saturday

New Mexico State Warden Teddy Allen heard good news Monday when he was named WAC Player of the Week. That honor comes after Allen hit a career-high 41 points in the Aggies’ win over Abilene Christian on Saturday night.

“He scored in many ways. You know, he’s been scoring on catching and shooting threes, he’s been scoring on some stepbacks, some dribble deals he’s making and like I said after the game, it wasn’t like a blast, it was just constant dieting of baskets for him,” said NMSU head coach Chris Jans.

This is the second time this season that Allen has been named WAC Player of the Week. NMSU will now look to win their 11th straight game on Thursday, playing at Sam Houston at 5:30 p.m

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