Aggies’ stiff defense leads to road victory

NM State (11-11, 4-8 CUSA) put together a strong second-half performance to battle its way to a 72-63 road victory over Conference USA foe Louisiana Tech (12-10, 5-6 CUSA) Wednesday night inside the Thomas Assembly Center.

While they trailed by one at halftime, the Aggies shot 58% in the final 20 minutes to take control down the stretch, outscoring the Bulldogs 41-31 in the second half to collect their second road win in league play.

Early scoring from Jemel Jones, Julius Mims and Chris Terrell had the Aggies in the driver’s seat early on as they jumped out to a 14-5 lead following a pair of triples from Terrell. However, the home side responded with a run of its own, scoring 10 unanswered points to take its first lead of the game at the 10:38 mark of the first half.

Amid an opening half that featured six lead changes, the final shift came with just six seconds on the clock as the Bulldogs’ DJ Dudley finished a layup to leave the Aggies looking at a one-point deficit entering the break.

The Aggies quickly captured momentum in the second half as six points from Jones highlighted a 13-5 scoring run that put the Aggies in front 44-37 with 12:59 remaining. The NM State defense used consistent pressure to limit the Bulldogs to just 27% from the floor in the second half, allowing the Aggies to extend their lead to eight points with just over five minutes left to play.

Timely buckets and free throws from Jones and Gabe Pickens lifted the Aggies to the win as the duo combined to score the final 14 points for the Crimson and White during the closing minutes.