Pryor's prayer pushes Aggies past Lobos, 78-76, in overtime

Following the events of Friday night in El Paso, Texas, each and every person inside The Pit knew NM State guard Jabari Rice was going to take the last shot with the score tied at 76-all and eight seconds remaining in overtime.

And then he didn't.

Instead of pulling up, Rice drove inside, dished the ball over to Nate Pryor who somehow got his no-look reverse layup to fall at the horn which handed the Aggies a wild 78-76 victory over the Lobos Monday night.

Not only did NM State (7-2) extend its winning streak to two games, it moved to 3-1 in rivalry games (tilts against UTEP and New Mexico) in 2021-22, it put an end to a three-game losing skid to the Lobos (5-4) with the thrilling triumph in enemy territory.

FIRST HALF
• For all the offense there was in the first meeting between the two programs in 2021-22, the second matchup featuring the age-old New Mexico adversaries didn't exactly get off to a scorching-hot start in terms of offensive production.
• Devoid of scoring through the first 2:28 of action, the game got going when New Mexico opened up a 5-0 lead by receiving buckets from Jamal Mashburn Jr., and Jaelen House.
• After the Lobos threw the first punch, the Aggies answered with six-straight points. Mike Peake handed the visitors one of their two one-point leads in the opening stanza by following a Will McNair Jr., miss with a put-back lay-up to make matters 6-5 in favor of the Aggies.
• The squads went on to swap leads twice more following Peake's make on a follow before New Mexico made a bid to take control. An 11-1 run by the hosts spanned 2:30 and put the Aggies at an 18-9 disadvantage with 9:53 left in the half.
• Two long balls as well as a three-point play by Saquan Singleton helped the hosts move ahead by nine and ensured the Aggies would spend the rest of the half chipping away.
• Down by as many as 10 points, 23-13, with 8:01 showing on the first-half scoreboard, NM State closed out the frame on a 14-8 run to cut the Lobos' lead to just four at the break. Peake cashed in on a three-pointer to start that surge while Rice added another - the second and final trifecta for NM State in the first half - to conclude the run.
• Neither team had a great deal of success from the field as missed shots and turnovers set the tone for the first frame. The squads combined for 13 throwaways and shot a collective 24-of-66 (.364) from the field.

SECOND HALF
• Needing a spark in the worst way, NM State got one courtesy of the tandem of Teddy Allen and Yuat Alok. Down 36-31 after Mashburn Jr., buried a triple, NM State used three buckets from Allen and an inside score from Alok to power an 8-0 run that handed the visitors a 39-36 lead with 15:06 left in regulation.
• That set the stage for an exciting finish as the game featured nine lead changes and three deadlocks prior to the overtime session.
• Between the two of them, Alok and Allen joined forces to amass 23 of the Aggies' 41 points in the final 20 minutes of regulation while Johnny McCants added eight. Most of McCants' work on offense had to be done with the greatest of care as he was playing with four fouls for a large portion of the half.
• The Aggies' lead got extended to as many as five points, 55-50, following a twisting layup by Allen with 7:40 to go. After that bucket, the Lobos outscored the Aggies by an 11-5 margin, capping off the run with Mashburn Jr's go-ahead jumper with 5:10 to go.
• Down 61-60, NM State swapped leads with New Mexico who built up a lead of three, 67-64, following Jay Allen-Tovar's baseline jumper with 1:48 to go.
• With 40 seconds left, Rice worked his way inside to a layup to make it a one-point game. Twelve seconds showed on the clock when Javonté Johnson stepped to the line for a pair of free throws, but after missing the first one that left the door open for the Aggies.
• Pryor found McCants with 3.8 seconds left and the Aggies' hometown senior dropped in the game-tying basket to force another five minutes of play.

OVERTIME
• House hit a deep three to start the extra session to give the hosts another lead, but Alok continued to wreak havoc down in the paint to keep the Aggies in control.
• Getting pretty much whatever he wanted all night, Alok scored six of the Aggies' 10 points in overtime, using an array of low post moves to get the job done.
• It was Alok's hook shot with 1:04 to go which handed NM State a 76-72 lead, but things were far from over. House and Mashburn drilled shots on back-to-back Lobo possessions to knot the game at 76 with 25 seconds to go.
• That set up Pryor's heroic no-look shot which immortalized the Aggie newbie in NM State/New Mexico lore forever.

KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• Allen led the way on offense for NM State, finishing with a game-high 21 points and completing his first collegiate double-double with a game and career-high 11 rebounds.
• Alok manned things down low, turning in a career-high 19-point outing on a 9-of-13 showing from the field while McCants added 12 on a 6-of-9 shooting clip. The Aggies' do-it-all senior also added four rebounds, four assists and a blocked shot.
• Before playing the role of hero, Pryor played major minutes to cement himself in the Aggie lineup for the remainder of the season. The Seattle, Wash., product finished with eight points, seven rebounds and four assists in 34 minutes of time at the point.
• Mashburn Jr., poured in a game-high 26 points for the Lobos who were denied a season sweep of the Aggies for a second-straight time. New Mexico win both games against NM State in the 2019-20 season.
• House added 21 points for New Mexico which had no other players exceed eight points.
• The Lobos went 14-of-23 from the foul line in the loss and despite attempting just five freebies - two of which were made - NM State captured the win.
• NM State hiked its record to 2-0 in true road games this season
• NM State head coach Chris Jans pushed his all-time record against New Mexico to 5-3 (.625) thanks to Monday night's win.

COMING UP NEXT
• A west coast excursion is up next for NM State as the Aggies are bound for Los Angeles, Calif., for their next contest. Saturday afternoon at 5:00 p.m., NM State heads inside Gersten Pavilion for a clash with WCC adversary Loyola-Marymount.