CHICAGO – The New Mexico State men's basketball team picked up its 15th-consecutive win on Saturday at the Jones Convocation Center when it defeated Chicago State 92-58.
 
The win was also NM State's seventh-straight win on the road and pushed its all-time record against the Cougars to 17-1.
 
New Mexico State (26-4, 14-1 WAC) got the season started with a bang, blitzing Chicago State with a 17-0 run paced by Ivan Aurrecoechea and AJ Harris – who had six points and five points respectively. The Cougars didn't get their first point until the 13:11 mark when Patrick Szpir hit the second of his two free-throws. Rob Shaw then gave CSU its first field-goal of the day shortly thereafter with a basket with 12:59 on the clock.
 
Then, with 7:01 left to play in the first half, Johnny McCants came flying in on a Clayton Henry miss with an electric one-handed hammer! From there, it was cruise control for the rest of the half as 10 Aggies recorded points.

WATCH | OH. MY. GOODNESS. LOOK OUT BELOW!!!! HEEEEEEEEEERE'S JOHNNY!!! 😱😱#AggieUp | #SCTtop10 pic.twitter.com/HvJ1Jqt8nT

— NM State MBB (@NMStateMBB) March 2, 2019

 
The second-half wasn't any different with New Mexico State dominating Chicago State (3-27, 0-15 WAC) on both ends of the floor. NM State continued to hold a commanding lead in the second frame thanks to a barrage of 3-pointers from Mohamed Thiam – who had three-straight from beyond the arc before Chicago State exhausted its last timeout of the game.

WATCH | @mohamedthiam11 drains his 3rd 👌of the night and now has 11pts (3-4 3FG).#AggieUp pic.twitter.com/D52rJan5BX

— NM State MBB (@NMStateMBB) March 2, 2019

 
By the time the final buzzer sounded, NM State walked away with a 92-58 victory against the Cougars to grab the sweep in its final road trip of the regular season.
 
Aurrecoechea finished the game with a team-high 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting – including 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. Thiam registered a season-high 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting with seven boards while Harris finished 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Keyon Jones rounded out the list of Aggies in double-figures with 10 points and five rebounds.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
Aggies were efficient on defense, turning 15 CSU turnovers into 25 points…NM State finished the afternoon 32-of-60 (53.3%) from the field…with 12 shots from deep on Saturday, it was the 10th time NM State has hit the double-digit mark from 3-point range this season.
 
UP NEXT
New Mexico State returns home to the friendly confines of the Pan American Center where it'll entertain California Baptist in the final game of the regular-season. Tip-off between the Aggies and Lancers is set for 7 p.m. (MT) on the WAC Digital Network as NM State honors its seniors in Eli Chuha, JoJo Zamora and Keyon Jones.