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03/11/2010 - Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darington Hobson erupted for 28 points and 15 rebounds, carrying No. 8 New Mexico to a hard-fought 75-69 victory over Air Force in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
Dairese Gary returned from an early injury and made 14-of-15 free throws to account for most of his 20-point effort for the Lobos (29-3), who set a single-season school record for wins thanks to their 15th straight victory.
New Mexico, the top seed in the tournament, moves on to play the winner of the Colorado State/San Diego State battle.
Tom Fow and Michael Lyons scored 17 and 15 points, respectively, to lead the ninth-seeded Falcons (10-21), whose win over Wyoming on Wednesday was their second in MWC tourney history.
The Falcons, who lost a 59-56 decision at New Mexico less than three weeks ago, again gave the Lobos all they can handle at the Thomas & Mack Center.
A Roman Martinez three-pointer had the favorites up 58-49 with less than 7 1/2 minutes to play, but Lyons' jumper two minutes later cut it to a 61-58 game.
New Mexico pulled away with five straight from the free throw line, and Hobson's acrobatic tip-in provided a 68-58 margin.
Mike McLain's offensive foul followed by two Gary free throws capped the game- sealing 11-0 run with 1:13 remaining, helping New Mexico grind out the surprisingly tough win.
Air Force was on top 13-12 when Todd Fletcher capped a 9-0 run with a three- pointer six minutes into the game. The Falcons went the next seven minutes without scoring, though the Lobos only scored eight during that stretch.
New Mexico's largest lead in the first half was 10, but Evan Washington beat the halftime buzzer with a long deuce to pull the underdogs within 38-31 at halftime.
Fow made two free throws and a three-pointer before Washington's three-point play cut Air Force's deficit to 48-47 with 12:48 to play.
Game Notes
This is New Mexico's second-longest winning streak in school history behind a 17-game streak set in 1967-68...The Lobos have won seven straight over Air Force...Grant Parker, the Falcons' leading scorer with 13.1 ppg, scored just six, while Fletcher and Washington netted 12 and 11, respectively, in defeat...Air Force outshot New Mexico 54.0 percent to 46.8 percent from the floor but were outscored on the foul line, 25-8.
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In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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