DENVER (AP) -- They were ready for prime time, and next, the New

Mexico Lobos hope to show they're ready for the NCAA Tournament,

too.

Led by 23 points from Danny Granger and a career-high 12 assists

from Mark Walters, the Lobos beefed up their postseason resume

Thursday night with their seventh straight victory, 85-71 over BYU

in the first round of the Mountain West Conference tournament.

"If they're going to lose, it's going to take an awfully good

effort to beat them," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said.

Conference officials scheduled second-seeded New Mexico (24-6)

for a 9 p.m. EST start so more members of the NCAA selection

committee -- many of whom live back East -- would be awake to watch.

With their 24 wins being offset by a weak RPI rating of 85 and

an abysmal schedule rated 298th toughest in the country, the Lobos

find themselves squarely on the bubble, as they try to make the

tournament for the first time since 1999.

They need to impress at every opportunity and they did just that

against seventh-seeded BYU (9-21), which was led by Jared Jensen

with 19 points.

Overcoming a slow start, Walters started moving the ball around

better and finished with 12 points to go with his 12 assists.

Alfred Neale went 4-for-5 from 3-point range to finish with 15. The

star of the team, Granger, showed his versatility -- whirling in the

paint, spotting up outside and catching a long pass for a sweet

dunk late to lead the Lobos in scoring for the 16th time this

season.

Granger also finished with eight rebounds, five assists, four

blocks and three steals and the Lobos improved to 24-3 with him in

the lineup -- another factor they hope the NCAA will consider on

"Selection Sunday."

"We're not focused on who's watching us," said coach Ritchie

McKay, who earned his first career victory in a postseason

conference tournament in five tries. "We just take the next 20

minutes. We had two good halves tonight. We'll be judged on the

body of our work."

Walters' nice passing was part of a 26-assist night for New

Mexico. McKay said the magic number is usually 18 or 19.

"It was just in the flow of things," Walters said. "I didn't

realize I had that many until coach told me."

Conference commissioner Craig Thompson said the Lobos were given

the prime spot in the first day's lineup -- top-seeded Utah played

at noon Denver time -- in part to give them the exposure they might

need to give the conference a second team in the NCAA's 65-team

field.

"It was definitely part of the decision," he said. "It was

that, the crowd they could bring. They earned it."

Not so happy was third-seeded Air Force, which played San Diego

State in the late game, with the winner advancing to face UNM on

Friday.

Mike Hall added 13 points for the Cougars, who finished the

season on a five-game losing streak and with the same record they

had in 1997-98 -- Cleveland's first season with the program.

After the game, Cleveland pulled McKay aside and complimented

him on the job he's done with the Lobos, who defeated Utah 2½ weeks

ago for the third win in their current streak.

"I'm not sure if we played them 10 times we'd beat them once,"

Cleveland said. "They're a very, very talented team and they're

playing with a lot of confidence right now."