Ruston, LA- I'm sure starting conference play 0-2 is not what New Mexico State had in mind. They opened up WAC play on a two game road trip on Saturday getting blown out by a pretty weak UT-Arlington 68-47. On Monday, they traveled to Ruston to take on the red-hot Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. This one was closer as NMSU was within 3 points with about 9 minutes left, but the Bulldogs just pulled away from there to secure an 81-72 victory.
The Bulldogs (11-3, 2-0) earned their second conference win while the Aggies (6-8, 0-2) continue to struggle.
LaTech was led by freshman guard Alex Hamilton who came off the bench to score 20 points and went 10-10 from the free throw line. Senior Brandon Gibson added 15 and Michale Kyser tallied 5 blocks.
The Aggies were once again led by sophomore guard Daniel Mullings who led all scorers with 21 points to go along with his 5 rebounds. Senior Tyrone Watson had 14 points on 10-14 shooting from the free throw line.
I was very please to see Renaldo Dixon get 19 minutes. He had 9 points and 6 rebounds on 4-6 shooting. Sophomore Terrel de Rouen continues to make a push to become the starting point guard for the Aggies as he scored a career-high 10 points.
New Mexico State held All-WAC performer Raheem Appleby to 8 points on 4-15 shooting. (YES!)
They also shot 24-54 from the field (44%)- not bad... BUT, shot 1-12 from behind the arc.
The Aggies will look to rebound and could easily get back to .500 in the WAC as they will host fellow cellar dwellers UT-San Antonio (4-8, 0-2) and Texas State (4-10, 0-2) on Thursday and Saturday.
These are MUST, MUST WINS.
Player of the Game: Daniel Mullings (21 pts, 5 reb)
Next Game: Thursday, January 3, vs. UT-San Antonio (4-8, 0-2) at 7:00 MT
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