The Aggie men's basketball team was dealt their worst home loss in the 197-game series as UTEP handed the Aggies a 21-point loss, 79-58 on Tuesday night. The Miners jumped out to a 7-0 lead as the Aggies did not hit their first field goal until the 14:59 mark of the first half cutting the Miner lead to 11-4. The Aggies would cut the Miner lead to just two points at 15-13 with 9:57 left in the half and then again at 17-15 with 8:45 left in the half but would get no closer.

The Aggies shot a season low 28 percent from the floor in the first half as they hit just 7 of 25 shots from the floor and did not record a three point basket, missing all eight attempts. Combined with a porous defense that allowed UTEP to shoot 45.9 percent from the floor, the Aggies' trailed by 15 points at halftime, 39-24.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

FULLERTON, CA - In a rematch of the ESPNU BracketBuster game from a season ago, the New Mexico State men’s basketball traveled to Cal State Fullerton and fell to the Titans, 84-73, Tuesday, Nov. 24, at Titan Gym in Fullerton, Calif.

Sophomore center Hamidu Rahman recorded his first double-double of the year with 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Aggies. Junior guard Jahmar Young also scored 19 while senior guard Jonathan Gibson contributed 16 points.

The tipoff was delayed 10 minutes due to a scoreboard malfunction and when the game started the Aggies raced to a 5-0 lead. The early advantage included a three-point play from sophomore guard Hernst Laroche.  Continue Reading This Post >>

A furious second half rally by the Aggie basketball team came up short as Aggies fell 97-87 to in-state rival New Mexico on Tuesday night. The Aggies found themselves down by 16 points at halftime, 52-36, as the Lobos sliced through the Aggie defense and hit 64.5% of their shots in the first half including 7-of-12 from behind the three point arc. The Aggie offense struggled in the first half despite hitting 46 percent of their shots. Hamidu Rahman led the Aggies in the first half scoring 12 of his 14 points in the first 20 minutes. Jahmar Young was a non-factor for the Aggies in the first half scoring just four points.

Coming out of halftime the Aggies found themselves down by 19 points, 55-36, just 1:07 into the second half and it appeared that the rout was on. However, the Aggies would chip away at the lead and over the next five minutes the Aggies would go on a 21-4 run to cut the Lobo lead to just two points at 59-57 with 13:50 left to play. However, the Lobos would quickly push the margin back out to seven points over the next minute of play. Once again the Aggies would make a run, this time taking 68-67 lead with 10:34 let to play. The Aggies would extend their lead to 71-67 with exactly 10 minutes left to play before the Lobos responded with an 8-2 run to retake the lead with 8:21 left to play.

The Aggies would never regain the lead as a pivotal moment in the game occurred with the Aggies trailing by five points at 79-74. Jonathan Gibson turned the ball over and on the ensuing runout, Kelly Merker was called for an intentional foul as he tried to break up the three on one fast break. The two free throws by Dairese Gary gave the Lobos a seven point cushion at 81-74 and the Aggies would never get closer than five points the rest of the game.  Continue Reading This Post >>

The Aggies fell behind 13-2 early in their season opener and were never able to recover as the St. Mary's Gaels cruised past the Aggies. After facing an early 11 point deficit, the Aggies cut the lead to five points at 13-8 with 11:39 left to play in the first half but that was as close as the Aggies would get the rest of the game. St. Mary's would outscore the Aggies 28-18 over the final 10 minutes of the half to take a 41-26 advantage into halftime.

St. Mary's opened the second half on a 17-2 run through the first media timeout to take a commanding 58-28 lead. The Aggies would never threaten in the second half as the closest they would get in the second half was 25 points at 60-35 with the final margin of 32 points the largest margin of defeat for the Aggies under head coach Marvin Menzies.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The New Mexico State men’s basketball team defeated Western New Mexico, 111-83, in its only exhibition game of the year, Monday, Nov. 2, at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, N.M.

The Aggies had five players in double figures with senior guard Jonathan Gibson, sophomore center Hamidu Rahman and freshman forward Tyrone Watson with 21 points each. Sophomore guard Hernst Laroche added 15 while junior guard Gordo Castillo chipped in 14.

"I thought it was a good outing for our first time out," head coach Marvin Menzies said. "We achieved our goal of playing a lot of new guys."

Rahman recorded the only double-double of the game with 10 rebounds while junior forward Robert Lumpkins led all rebounders with 12 boards.  Continue Reading This Post >>

The Aggies used a five run sixth inning to rally from a 4-1 deficit and held on for a 7-6 victory and a 1-0 start to conference play. Tyler Sturdevant pitched 6.1 innings and picked up his fourth victory of the season while Erik Nyquist picked up his fourth save of the season. Scott Coffman and Jake Wilson combined to pitch 1.2 innings of scoreless relief.

Right fielder Nate Shaver hit his sixth home run of the season in the bottom of the first inning to give the Aggies a 1-0 lead. The Hornets collected eight hits on the night while the Aggies had nine. The two starting pitchers combined for 27 strikeouts and issued just four walks.

With the victory the Aggies improve to 26-3 on the season. The two teams will face each other tomorrow for a doubleheader beginning at 3:00 p.m.

The Aggie men's basketball team held a 13 point halftime lead but Utah State hit a baseline jumper with 3.1 seconds left to take their first lead of the second half at 71-70. New Mexico State wasn't able to hit a long three at the buzzer. The Aggies end the season with a 17-15 record.

The Aggie men's basketball team notched a 70-59 victory over Hawai'i on Saturday night. The Aggies jumped out to an early 12-4 lead behind hot shooting and solid defense. Hawai'i would go on an 11-0 run to take a 15-12 lead but back-to-back threes by Jonathan Gibson would give the Aggies the lead. The Aggies finished the half on a 14-3 run and took a 35-25 lead into halftime.

Hawai'i would get no closer than nine points in the second half as the Aggies would build a 47-32 lead with 12:16 remaining in the game. The Aggies would hold a comfortable lead down the stretch as they held on for the 70-59 victory.

Troy Gillenwater scored a game high 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Wendell McKines notched another double-double scoring 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

Strong defense was stressed by Coach Menzies all week and the Aggies responded by holding Hawai'i to just 32% shooting from the field and 26% from behind the three point arc. The Aggies also forced 21 turnovers.  Continue Reading This Post >>