COLLEGE

Scarborough played college basketball at New México, As a freshman he was a guard on Gary Colson’s Western Athletic Conference team in 1983-84 and appeared in 32 games with no starts, averaging 12.4 minutes, 4.2 points, 0.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game while shooting 46.5 percent from the field and 60.0 percent at the free throw line for a team that finished 24-11 overall and 10-6 in WAC play.

The 1983-84 Lobos relied heavily on four senior starters, with only three other players contributing significant minutes, including freshman Scarborough.

He appeared in 32 games, averaging 12.4 minutes and 4.2 points per game. The Lobos won at #7 UCLA on the way to a 16-4 record, but they lost three games to top ten-ranked WAC rival UTEP, then appeared in the NIT, finishing the year 24-11.

Scarborough shared that freshman team with Tim Garrett, Phil Smith, Alan Dolensky, Nelson Franse, Hunter Greene, Mike Winters, T.J. Drake, Paul Connery, and Larry Markland, and New Mexico finished third in the WAC before reaching the NIT.

As a sophomore in 1984-85 he moved into a full-time starting role, starting all 32 games and averaging 35.8 minutes, 10.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 2.5 steals per game while shooting 43.8 percent from the field and 76.0 percent at the line for a 19-13 team that went 9-7 in conference play and finished third in the WAC.

That 1984-85 season established him as New Mexico’s lead playmaker, and his 80 steals set a Lobo single-season record at the time and still rank among the best defensive seasons in school history.

New Mexico returned to the NIT in 1984-85 and defeated Texas A&M before falling to Fresno State, with Scarborough playing in a young starting group that included Hunter Greene and helped the Lobos recover from a 6-5 start to briefly share the WAC lead.

As a junior in 1985-86 he again started every game he played, starting 31 of 31 while averaging 35.1 minutes, 10.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.7 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game while shooting 50.2 percent from the field and 65.9 percent at the foul line for a team that finished 17-14 overall and 8-8 in the WAC, good for fifth place.

That season he played a central backcourt role while Johnny Brown led the frontcourt, and New Mexico reached the NIT again before losing to Texas to end the season.

As a senior in 1986-87 he had the best statistical season of his college career, playing 35 games with 34 starts and averaging 37.6 minutes, 18.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 2.2 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game while shooting 53.5 percent from the field, 35.3 percent from three-point range, and 77.8 percent from the free throw line for a New Mexico team that finished 25-10 overall and 11-5 in conference play.

Scarborough led the 1986-87 Lobos in assists, field-goal percentage, and minutes played, earned First-team All-WAC honours, and helped New Mexico reach the WAC tournament championship game before a loss to Wyoming, after which the Lobos went to the NIT and lost to Oregon State.

New Mexico’s 25 wins in 1986-87 were the most in program history at that point, and Scarborough was one of the key reasons as he teamed with Hunter Greene, Kelly Graves, Mike Winters, Rob Loeffel, George Adams, Darrell McGee, and Brian Parker on a high-scoring team that averaged 80.8 points per game.

His single-game assist peak was 21 in one game for New Mexico, a school record and one of the top single-game assist totals in NCAA Division I history.

Across his four New Mexico seasons from 1983-84 through 1986-87, Scarborough played 130 games and made 97 starts while averaging 29.6 minutes, 11.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.8 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game with career shooting marks of 49.5 percent from the field, 35.3 percent from three-point range, and 72.8 percent from the free throw line.

New Mexico went 85-48 during his four-year college career under Gary Colson and reached the NIT in every season he was with the Lobos, finishing third in the WAC in 1983-84, tied for third in 1984-85, fifth in 1985-86, and third again in 1986-87.

By the end of his college career he held New Mexico’s career record for steals with 235, ranked among the program’s all-time leaders in assists and minutes played, and finished as one of the highest scorers in school history at the time he left the program.

He wore No. 11 for New Mexico and played point guard, and his combination of scoring, assists, and steals made him one of the most productive Lobos guards of the 1980s.