Denver, CO- The Denver Pioneers (19-8, 14-2) simply out-played New Mexico State (19-10, 12-4) in the second half to defeat the Aggies 66-60 on Saturday. The win put Denver all alone in second place in the WAC, trailing only LaTech. The loss knocked NMSU down to third place and out of WAC regular-season title contention (they were out anyway before the loss).
NMSU took a 28-27 lead into the locker room and quickly jumped out to a 34-27 lead with 16:26 left in the second half. At the under 12 minute timeout, the Aggies had a slight 42-40 lead.
Cue the Denver run.
The Pioneers went on a 14-1 run that lasted just over 7 minutes to take a commanding 54-43 lead with 5:08 left.
But just like they have done all season long, the Aggies rallied back. Sophomore Daniel Mullings sparked NMSU by scoring 6 points and recording a steal in a span of 50 seconds to make the deficit 55-51 with 3:16 left.
Out of a timeout with 1:51 remaining, Bandja Sy nailed a three-pointer to make it a one-point game. After a pair of Denver free throws, NMSU was down by three looking for a basket. But, a turnover by Sy led to a wide-open three by Pioneer Chase Hallam to put Denver up by six with 49 seconds left. Sy answered that three with another one of his own to make the score 60-57.
Kevin Aronis came into the game and missed two 3's as Denver converted on six straight free throws to put the game out of reach 66-57. For style points, Bandja Sy nailed his third three-pointer of the game with four seconds left to play. That made the final outcome 66-60.
Statistically, NMSU played a great game- EXCEPT turnovers.
As a team, they shot 20-41 FG (48.8%) and 3-6 on threes (50%- Sy went 3-3).
One of the best things the Aggies executed was free throw shooting. They shot 17-21, good for 81%. Sim Bhullar went 5-9... resulting in NMSU's only misses from the charity strike.
Senior Tyrone Watson returned to the court after his 30-day/7-game suspension to play 38 minutes, score 10 points, and record 5 assists. Bandja Sy had a great game scoring 21 points with 11 rebounds. Sim Bhullar had 17 points on 6-7 shooting and 4 blocks.
The Aggies committed 18 turnovers- seven by Daniel Mullings.
One of the interesting things I noticed was the Aggies have gone away from the seven-man rotation that helped win 12 games in a row. Nine guys saw playing time today.
Also, I was SHOCKED, yes, SHOCKED, that Renaldo Dixon only saw seven minutes of playing time. This is the guy who has arguably been the New Mexico State MVP of the season.
The Aggies look ahead as ranked Louisiana Tech comes to the PanAm with an insane 26-3 record on Thursday.
Player of the Game: Bandja Sy (21 pts, 11 reb)
Next Game: Thursday, March 7 vs LaTech (26-3, 16-0) at 7:00 MST
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