ALBUQUERQUE — Every New Mexico player got into the scoring column Friday with Phillip McDonald's 18 points leading four Lobos in double figures in an 83-59 victory over Nicholls State on the first day of the Basketball Travelers World Vision Classic.

Anatoly Bose had 20 points and six rebounds for the Colonels (0-3).

"I thought it was a really good defensive effort," said UNM head coach Steve Alford. "(Nicholls State) is a team that runs a continuity offense and they run it very well. They have a very good player (Bose) and I thought we put a lot of different bodies on him and I think that helped us."

New Mexico (3-0) led from the 14-minute mark of the first half when it started a 24-4 run to go up 33-15. The lead never again slipped into single digits.

"I thought defensively, it might have been our best effort," Alford said. "Our guys shot under 50 percent tonight yet we hold a team to 39 percent shooting and we hold them to under 60 points. We turned them over 17 times and we only had eight. We're averaging 71/2 turnovers on the year."

Although New Mexico didn't have its best shooting night, it had plenty of players helping McDonald offensively.

Darington Hobson scored 14, Dairese Gary 13 and Roman Martinez 10. Martinez and A.J. Hardeman grabbed a game-high eight rebounds each.

UNM took a 37-25 lead into halftime behind McDonald's 13 first-half points.

"Where they really got us was in transition," said Nicholls State head coach J.P. Piper. "And they did a good job of feeding off the crowd."