LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State men's basketball team used its depth Thursday night inside the Pan American Center as it took down Kansas City 70-54 for its sixth-straight win.
With the win, NM State (17-4, 6-1 WAC) has now won 12-straight contests against UMKC move to 6-0 when playing at home against the Roos. The six-straight wins is the longest win-streak this season for the Aggies.
The Aggies got off to a quick start and jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Danny Dixon hit a 3-pointer at the 16:56 mark. NM State and UMKC (8-14, 3-4 WAC) soon went back-and-forth trading buckets and took a 26-15 lead on a 3-ball from
Mohamed Thiam after the offensive board from
Johnny McCants.
Shunn Buchanan tied the largest lead of the night at 30-19 with 4:23 left to play when he hit 1-of-2 from the line before both teams headed to the locker room with NM State on top 30-22.
The second-half of play started out with some back-and-forth scoring between the two teams before New Mexico State got things going after
Johnny McCants drilled a three with 12:54 left on the clock. The redshirt sophomore followed up with a huge jam before
Terrell Brown pulled up on the next offensive possession with a 3-pointer of his own.
UMKC's Rob Whitifield got a three in to make it 47-33 in favor of the Crimson & White before heading into the media timeout with 11 minutes remaining.
Trevelin Queen gave New Mexico State its largest lead of the game with 5:53 left to play on a breakaway jam that got the Aggie faithful up on their feet before finishing with an alley-oop from Buchanan with 2:46 on the clock.
Robert Brown gave NM State serviceable minutes off the bench, drawing two huge charges.
T. Brown finished with a team-high 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-6 from deep in the win while
Clayton Henry added nine points and five boards on 5-of-7 shooting.
Eli Chuha wrapped up the night with nine points of his own on top of six boards for NM State while
AJ Harris chipped in with seven points and six assists.
BY THE NUMBERS
The 26 rebounds differential between NM State and UMKC is the most this season for the Aggies and just the third time this year it's out-rebounded an opponent by 20-plus rebounds – the other two came against Eastern New Mexico and Battle of I-25 New Mexico at home…the Aggies also dominated the Roos in the paint 32-10 while converting 16 offensive boards into 19 points…the win now moves NM State to 10-1 on the year at home and eight-straight since losing to Saint Mary's on Nov. 14.
UP NEXT
New Mexico State remains are home this Saturday, Feb. 2, as it plays host to Chicago State to complete the two-game homestand before hitting the road once again, this time to CSU Bakersfield (Feb. 7) and Grand Canyon (Feb. 9)
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