LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Heading into the NM State men's basketball team's 2021-22 season, there was much talk of how the Aggies' projected depth would give them a leg up in just about every tilt they took part in.

While that bench production hasn't been the most consistent throughout the year thus far, NM State hopes Saturday's result will help it take a step in the right direction.

Teddy Allen flirted with a triple-double, Marchelus Avery joined Allen as one of five NM State players in double-figures in the scoring column and the Aggies became the first Western Athletic Conference team in 2021-22 to hit the 10-win mark by blasting Northern New Mexico 93-60 Saturday evening inside the Pan American Center.

FIRST HALF
• Damione Thomas connected on a three-pointer 36 seconds into the game which handed Northern New Mexico a 3-0 advantage. From there, however, it was all NM State.
• The Aggies answered that long ball, one of nine the Eagles finished with, with a backbreaking 24-0 run over the next 11:35 to take control of the game. Mike Peake powered home a pair of slam dunks through that surge, contributing six points during NM State's one-sided scoring spree. In addition to Peake, Yuat Alok got a chance to show off his offensive abilities and added seven points on an array of post moves and a three-pointer.
• Clayton Henry's fast break triple with 8:01 to go in the frame capped off the Aggies' sizable scoring surge and put the hosts up 24-3. NM State's lead didn't dip below 17 points for the rest of the half, allowing the Aggies to cruise the rest of the way.
• Alok's 14-point output through the first 20 minutes of action came in 11 minutes for the Aukland, New Zealand product. NM State put up shooting splits of .400/.235/.818 in the first 20 minutes of play while eight of the nine Aggies who saw the court put in points. In his first extended action of the season, Henry logged a shade over 12 minutes in the half and came up with three points, three rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot in that time.
• Northern New Mexico shot only 9-of-29 (31-percent) in the opening frame and saw its nine turnovers turn into 11 NM State points.

SECOND HALF
• NM State's lead dipped below 20 points on just one occasions throughout the final 20 minutes as the Aggies cruised to victory.
• Three-pointers on the Aggies' last two possessions of the game courtesy of Virshon Cotton pushed the hosts' lead to 33 - the final margin and its largest advantage of the night.
• Fourteen of NM State's 48 points in the final frame were attributed to Avery while another 12 were pumped in by Allen.

KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• With three of the Aggies' regular starters - Johnny McCants, Nate Pryor and Jabari Rice - in street clothes after given the directive to take the night off (rest purposes), NM State trotted out a starting lineup which consisted of Allen, Avery, McKinney Jr., McNair Jr. and Mike Peake.
• Allen's 19-point scoring output led all players as did his game - and career-high - eight assists. The Phoenix, Ariz., product totaled seven rebounds and a trio of steals, too, to round out his well-balanced stat line.
• For Avery, he finished with a career-high 17 points on a 7-of-12 effort from the field. Avery dropped in three of NM State's nine long balls on the night, going 3-for-6 from downtown to go along with eight rebounds.
• Alok shined off the bench, using his superior size to get pretty much anything he wanted. The forward poured in 16 points on a 6-of-8 shooting effort while Virshon Cotton (11) gave NM State another double-digit scoring option among its group of reserves.
• McKinney Jr., led the way in the rebounding department, grabbing a career-high 12 boards to help NM State own a 51-32 (+19) edge on the glass against its NAIA opponent.
• Weaver totaled 16 points in the Eagles' loss - one that will not go on their record as the contest was marked as an exhibition game for them.
• NM State's win total of 10 games puts it two games shy of matching last season's triumph total. Saturday night's win was also NM State's fifth in a row, tying the 2020-21 campaign's longest streak of consecutive victories.

COMING UP NEXT
• The final non-conference game on the Aggies' regular-season slate is scheduled for Monday at 7:00 p.m. That night, NM State welcomes NCAA Division II adversary UT Permian Basin to the Pan American Center for a Texas/New Mexico showdown.

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