New Mexico State wins 94-82

Let's take the OK Corral out of Tombstone and place it in the wild west of Las Cruces. The Earps (host New Mexico State this time) versus the Clanton Gang (San Jose State), lots of firepower on both sides.

When the gun smoke cleared, it was the Aggies winning 94-82.

Robert Owens led the Spartans with a career-high 29 points, shooting 10-15 overall (7-12 on threes). He was 'en fuego' until the last minutes when he missed his final three trey attempts. Adrian Oliver contributed 22 while Chris Oakes earned a double-double of 14 points and 10 boards.

Jahmar Young topped New Mexico State with 25 points and Jonathan Gibson was right behind with 20. In his first game of the season, Troy Gillenwater provided a double-double of 19 points and 11 boards -- all in just 21 minutes of action.

The Aggies led by 12 soon after the second 20 minutes began but a pair of three-pointers by Owens made it 56-52 at the 14:55 mark. A little later on, Owens' trey and foul shot (he was fouled) cut the deficit to three at 61-58.

The pattern was the Aggies extending the lead and San Jose State drawing back close but SJSU could never tie or go ahead.

A Mac Peterson three with 7:55 remaining put the score at 76-71.

With around five minutes left, San Jose State sagged a bit and the Aggies expanded the point differential to 10 at 83-73 before closing out matters.

At the half, it was 49-42 in favor of New Mexico State. A Gillenwater and1 three-point play put the score at 20-12 Aggies but an Oakes dunk brought SJSU to within a pair of points at 34-32. The effect of NMSU's three-quarter court press was negligible.

As a team, San Jose State shot 43% overall, 11-23 on trey attempts and 9-14 from the foul line. The Aggies were sharper though with 52% overall shooting, 10-21 from long distance and 18-24 at the charity stripe. The 21 three-point shots were a far cry from the 38 New Mexico State attempted in the earlier game between these two teams in San Jose.


By the way, Idaho traveled to Boise tonight and slammed the Broncos 79-55. This despite Mac Hopson scoring just 11 points and Steffon Johnson six. The Vandals led 43-19 at the half.

Host Utah State led 39-35 over Nevada after the initial 20 minutes and just won 76-65.