bleedCrimson.net: Your thoughts on the wins over San Jose State and Boise State last week?
Darin Spence: We needed them obviously. We're trying to stay in that top group of the league race. Road wins are big, especially against the couple of teams we're supposed to beat. Doing it o nthe road is that much better. The home win with Boise, we hadn't closed a couple games out at home and let a couple slip. It was nice to see us develop a little bit of a backbone and finish off that home game and get the sweep over Boise. Boise is a good team. They've got a lot of experience, they've won the league title before. It was pretty gratifying to win that game and get the sweep over them. It keeps us in the hunt. We're fourth place by ourselves and we definitely control what's going to happen to us.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Hernst Laroche hit a jumper with under two seconds remaining to lead the Aggies to a 70-68 victory over visiting Louisiana Tech on Monday night. The Aggies and Bulldogs entered the game tied at 7-2 in second place in the WAC just a half game behind Utah State and with the win the Aggies move into a tie for first place with Utah State.

The Bulldogs came out firing in the first half and quickly umped out to a 9-6 lead. The Aggies would cut the Bulldogs' lead to one point at 12-11 with 14:34 left in the half but the Bulldogs answered with a 14-0 run over the next six minutes to take a 15-point lead with 8:14 left in the half. The Bulldogs maintained the 15 point lead at the under eight minute media timeout. the Aggies would trim the lead to nine points at 33-24 with 3:05 left to play and over the final two miinutes of the half the Aggies would finish on a 9-0 run to send the game into halftime tied.

Coming out of the break the Aggies quickly built a seven point lead and led 40-33 with 17:07 left to play. However, the Bulldogs would answer with a 6-0 run to cut the lead down to one at 40-39 with 15:45 left to play.

The Aggies would once again build the lead up, this time responding with a 20-4 run giving them a 17-point lead at 60-43 with 9:33 left in the game. However, just as they did in the game in Las Cruces last season, the Bulldogs were bound and determined to make it an interesting finish. The Bulldogs quickly cut the Aggie lead down to four points with a 13-0 run over the ensuing three minutes as the Aggies led 60-56.   Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Junior guard Jahmar Young has been named the Verizon Wireless WAC Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 1-7. The honor marks the third career WAC Player of the Week award for Young.

Young led New Mexico State to a 94-82 win over San Jose State, Feb. 6. He scored a team-high 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, including a 4-of-6 mark from 3-point range. Young also connected on 5-of-5 shots from the free throw line. Additionally, he dished out five assists, pulled down three rebounds and recorded a blocked shot.

“I’m very happy for Jahmar,” head coach Marvin Menzies said. “He has been a steady force for us all season long and it’s nice when a player gets acknowledged for his accomplishments.”  Continue Reading This Post >>

Tonight the Aggie men's basketball team takes on Louisiana Tech in one of the most important league games the Pan Am has seen in the past four seasons. A win by the Aggies would not only move them back into a tie for first place with Utah State, winners of eight in a row, but it would also give them the head-to-head tiebreaker over Louisiana Tech who will almost undoubtedly finish in the top four in the WAC this season.

Tonight's game sees the Aggies and Bulldogs square off for the second time in nine days as the Aggies dominated the Bulldogs from start to finish in their 91-77 victory in Ruston.

Tonight's game promises to be another fast paced battle. The Bulldogs dispatched San Jose State last week before the Spartans headed to Las Cruces.

Just like last time, this game will likely be decided by whichever team's bench shows up. The Aggies have a new weapon this time around as Troy Gillenwater gets his second test against another formidable inside presence in Magnum Rolle and Olu Ashaolu. However, the Bulldogs will also have a player the Aggies did not see when they faced the Bulldogs in Ruston. Louisiana Tech's 6'8" senior forward David Jackson did not play against the Aggies last time because he was late for shootaround and was benched by Bulldog head coach Kerry Rupp.

Jackson averages 20 minutes per game and 10.7 points per game and clearly the Bulldogs missed those 10.7 points in the 14 point loss to the Aggies.

Tonight's game should be an outstanding one as it will pit the two most athletic teams in the league against each other in a game that could very easily be a preview of the WAC Tournament Final (though, that is still a LONG way off). No doubt the Bulldogs will have a little extra motivation tonight not only for revenge but they too don't want to drop a game behind Utah State and New Mexico State for first place after having led the league through the first half of the schedule.

Tonight's game is set for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff. The game will be televised on AggieVision, ESPN Regional television and ESPN Full Court. Streaming audio and video will be available via Aggie Access (subscription required). Streaming video is also available via ESPN360.com

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The New Mexico State Aggie men's and women's basketball teams both picked up impressive and important victories yesterday. The Aggie women rallied from a 10-point second half deficit to beat Boise State and pick up their first series sweep of Boise State. Danisha Corbett was lights out in the second half knocking down four three point attempts. The Aggies were able to hold the Broncos' leading scorer Jessica Van Hoogen to just seven points. "We were in her face, we didn't allow her to become comfortable."

Tasha Harris scored 17 points for Boise State and Melissa Rima scored 24 points, well above her season average and most of the damage for her was done from the free throw line as she shot a whopping 19 free throws and hit 16 of them. Her 19 free throw attempts were two fewer than the Aggies shot as a team. In the end it was the Aggies who came out victorious. The Aggie defense was also strong in the second half. After allowing the Broncos to shoot 48.1 percent in the first half, the Aggie defense locked down the Broncos holding them to 31.6 percent shooting. It's been a continuing trend over the past two seasons and nearly always holds true, when the Aggies hold an opponent under 40 percent shooting, they win.

The Aggie offense shot 40.5 percent in the first half and then upped their efficiency to shoot 53.6 in the second half. The Aggies made 15 shots in each half but took seven fewer shots in the second half. As was expected it was a back and forth battle with seven ties and 16 lead changes. The Aggie bench outscored Boise State's bench 27-11, most of those 27 points came from Danisha Corbett who has come off the bench in each of the last two games and provided a scoring spark for the Aggies. Corbett had started nearly every game the past two seasons but Camila Rosen has moved into the starting spot the past two games and has done quite well. "I think this change frees her up a little bit. Of course it's hard for her to fully understand that. That's the best thing for our team right now. She stepped and hit some big shots for us. I'm really pleased with her, I'm proud of her. It's really hard for her, I know that. It's hard for anybody." Coach Spence has mentioned it to us before in our weekly interviews, the players need to understand that who starts the game is not as important as who finished the game. As a player, if you're in the game down the stretch in crunch time, that's far more important than if you're in the game when the score is 0-0. So far Corbett's move from the starting lineup to becoming the first person off the bench has given the Aggies a nice midseason spark.

The Aggie men also picked up an impressive victory last night over a very game San Jose State squad. The Spartans took an early lead on the Aggies and led 12-8. However, the Aggies answered with a run and after taking a 14-12 lead on a pair of Jahmar Young free throws, the Aggies would not trail the rest of the game. The Aggies held 10 point leads in both the first half and second half but to San Jose's credit the Spartans fought back to within one point both times and in the second half they simply ran out of gas, much like the Aggies ran out of gas in the first meeting between the two teams.

The Aggies and Spartans were lights out from behind the three point arc as the Spartans were 11-of-23 and the Aggies were 10-of-20. Troy Gillenwater made his season debut and it looked like he had been playing the entire season. Everyone will point to the 19 points and 11 rebounds that he had but the two most impressive plays he made in the game were the two early fouls he elicited on San Jose State's big men, one on the offensive end and one on the defensive end. With no disrespect to Wendell McKines, we have to give the edge to Troy in terms of season debuts. Wendell McKines had eight points, 10 rebounds and five assists in his season debut but his also came against Alcorn State while Troy scored 19 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and did it against a much more formidable interior of Chris Oakes and C.J. Webster.

With the midseason and late season additions of Wendell McKines and Troy Gillenwater, the Aggies are now at full strength and we cannot think of another instance in which a team got a boost at two separate times from two All-Conference caliber players late in the season. The Aggies are now 7-2 in conference play, tied with Louisiana Tech for 2nd place. The winner of Monday night's game will move into a tie with Utah State for first place.

We're having some connectivity issues here in the airport so we won't be posting links today  Continue Reading This Post >>

The Aggie men's basketball team improved to 7-2 in conference play after a 94-82 victory over visiting San Jose State on Saturday night. The Aggies and Spartans combined to hit 21 three point attempts as New Mexico State hit 10-of-20 three point attempts and San Jose State hit 11-of-23.

Jahmar Young led the Aggies scoring 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting including hitting four of his six three point attempts. The Spartans' Robert Owens scored 29 points and hit 7-of-12 three point attempts to lead San Jose State. Troy Gillenwater made his season debut after being cleared by the NCAA earlier in the week and responded with 19 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.

The Spartans jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead and led 12-8 with 15:51 left in the first half. Wendell McKines finished a dunk off an assist by Hernst Laroche to tie the game at 12 with 15:26 left to play in the half. The Aggies would take the lead with 15:05 left to play in the first half as Jahmar Young hit a pair of free throws.

With the two teams tied at 14 apiece the Aggies would go on a 9-2 run to take a 23-16 lead. The Aggies would extend the lead to 10 points at 31-21 with 9:29 left in the half but the Spartans would go on an 11-3 run to cut the Aggies lead to just two points on a layup by Chris Oakes with 5:03 left in the half.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

Also See: Rich Chavez's Photo Gallery

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The New Mexico State women's basketball team pulled away midway through the second half behind the sharp shooting of junior guards Jasmine Lowe and Danisha Corbett in an 85-76 defeat of Boise State at the Pan American Center Saturday afternoon.

Lowe led the Aggies with 23 points including 14 in the second half. Corbett scored 18 for NM State. Corbett knocked down a pair of threes on consecutive possessions in the second half to give the Aggies the lead for good at 66-61 with 7:38 remaining and secure the season sweep of the Broncos.

NM State improves to 15-8 overall and 5-4 in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) with the victory. Boise State drops to 14-9 and 3-6 in the WAC after the defeat.

"Anytime you can get a win against an experienced team like Boise State you'll take it," said head coach Darin Spence. "We did a lot of good things tonight. Corbett came in off the bench again for us tonight and I think that frees her up a little bit. She stepped up and made some big shots for us. I'm really pleased for her and proud of her tonight. "  Continue Reading This Post >>

It's a big day of basketball for Aggie fans as the women's and men's Aggie basketball teams host a doubleheader in the Pan Am. We can't remember the last time the Aggie basketball teams had a doubleheader at home, we kind of wish it would happen more often!

The women's team takes on Boise State at 4:00 p.m. to kick things off. The Aggies defeated the Broncos 87-83 in overtime to start conference play back in January. That sent the Broncos into a three game slide to start conference play. They've righted the ship a little bit and had won three of four but are coming off a beating at the hands of Louisiana Tech earlier this week.

In conference play Tasha Harris leads the Broncos in scoring averaging 16.0 points per game. Fellow senior Jessica Van Hoogen is averaging 10.9 points per game and center Janie Bos is averaging 10.0 points per game. During WAC play the Broncos are averaging 69.1 points per game and giving up 70.4 points per game. The Broncos have not shot the three ball particularly well hitting just 29 percent of their attempts but they have heaved up 169 three point attempts in conference play, third most in the league.

The Aggies are averaging 67.5 points per gam in league play and giving up 65.5 points per game. The Aggies are led in scoring by Jasmine Lowe who is averaging 16.9 points per game while Crystal Boyd is averaging 16.0 points per game. Madison Spence is third on the team averaging 10.0 points per game in WAC play. The Aggies are the league's second best three point shooting team hitting 37.0 percent of their attempts. Madison Spence has reasserted herself as the team's best three point shooter percentage wise having hit 48.0 percent of her attempts in league play (16-of-33). Danisha Corbett has launched the most three point attempts with 48 and has hit 31.0 percent of her attempts (15). Both Jasmine Lowe and Crystal Boyd are hitting 38.0 percent of their three point attempts.

Today's game tips off at 4:00 p.m. and can be heard on KSNM AM 570 in Las Cruces with Kyle Doperalski calling the action. Streaming audio and video will be available via Aggie Access (subscription required).

We encourage all men's basketball fans to come out and see the Aggie women in action. If you have not seen the ladies play this season, you owe it to yourself to get out and watch them play.

The Aggie men's basketball team follows the women's team at 7:00 p.m. as they host the dynamic Adrian Oliver and the San Jose State Spartans. SJSU is riding a two-game losing streak after having won three in a row. They sit at 5-5 in league play and tonight's game ends a road gauntlet that saw them play at Utah State and at Louisiana Tech.

San Jose State defeated the Aggies earlier this season in San Jose, a game that the Aggies were up by 18 points in the first half. Tonight also marks the return of Troy Gillenwater to the Aggies' lineup, an addition that has to make them one of, if not the favorite to win the league, especially with the Aggies sitting just a half game out of first place entering tonight's contest.

San Jose State is led by the aforementioned Adrian Oliver, who if you haven't figured it out yet from reading The Daily Aggie, is probably our most respected non-Aggie. Oliver was named the National Player of the Week last week after his performance in wins over Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State.

Oliver is averaging 24.2 points per game in league play, tops in the league. Chris Oakes is averaging 12.4 points and 8.7 rebounds per game and Robert Owens is averaging 10.2 points per game in league play. The Spartans have three other players averaging just shy of 10 points per game in WAC play. They are also a very good free throw shooting team hitting 73.8 percent of their attempts, second best percentage in the league.

The Spartans are also the WAC second best three point shooting team hitting 39.2 percent of their tries. They make an average of 6.7 threes per game. The Aggies shot a school record 38 three pointers against the Spartans in San Jose and we'd expect that number to come down a bit tonight. The Aggies are the fourth best three point shooting team in the league hitting 35.7 percent of their attempts. The Aggies average a league best 8.75 made threes per game.

Tonight's game should once again be a very high scoring affair with the distinct possibility of the winner reaching the 90-point plateau.

Tonight's game will be televised on AggieVision as well as ESPN Full Court and online via ESPN360.com. The game can be heard on the Aggie Sports Network across New Mexico with Jack Nixon calling the action. Streaming audio and video will also be available via Aggie Access (subscription required).

Finally, Kevin at Parsing The WAC has dug up a nice highlight video of Wendell McKines prior to joining the Aggies.
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You are cordially invited to join the Volleyball team on February 17th from 4:30 to 6:30 pm in the Barbara Hubbard Room at the Pan Am. The cost is $10 per person. Call Tricia Wright at 646-7714 to reserve your ticket!