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Lobos Toppled by Aggies in Las Cruces

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LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Despite being outscored by just seven points in the second half, the first-half deficit was too great to overcome as The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team fell on the road to the New Mexico State Aggies by a final score of 100-65. Freshman Drue Drinnon led the Lobos with a career-high 13 points in the second half.

“When you get absolutely dismantled like that, you’re just shocked,” head coach Paul Weir said. “It’s probably one of the most shocking games since Boise State last year … I thought their defense was terrific, (JoJo) Zamora was exceptional and their rebounding was really good to keep us off the glass .. There are so many different parts to this game that they just beat us.

“We have another game in three days, and it’s my job to get us ready to play in three days.”

The 35-point deficit marks the most for the 13th-ranked team in the nation in scoring offense in the Rio Grande Rivalry since Jan. 3, 1959 when the Lobos fell the Aggies 96-59 (37 points) in Albuquerque. 

NM State (7-1) got off to a hot start with an 11-0 lead and held the Lobos (4-2) silent for the first five and a half minutes. The Lobos answered with four points off of layups from junior Karim Ezzeddine and redshirt-sophomore Keith McGee and held the Aggies scoreless for 2:47. NMSU reclaimed its’ offensive dominance, however, and followed with an 18-0 run over 5:20 (from the 8:05 – 2:45 marks) to put the game out of reach 41-12. 

Senior Anthony Mathis broke the streak with a pair of free throws. UNM closed the final 2:05 of the first half with threes from Mathis and Ezzeddine, along with a layup by sophomore Makuach Maluach.

In the first half, the Lobos were outscored 50-22, outrebounded 31-12 and outshot 44.1 percent to 21.2 percent from the field (41.7 – 26.7 from 3-point range). 

The Lobos were outscored by just seven points in the second frame, 50-43. Drinnon led the second-half Lobo squad going 4-for-6 from the field, 3-for-4 from behind the arc and 2-for-4 from the foul line – all in just 10 minutes. He also fueled an 8-0 run over 1:33 that included five straight points on a 3-pointer and a layup with less than four minutes left to play.

On the night, UNM was led by three players scoring in double figures including Drinnon, Ezzeddine (11) and redshirt-sophomore Vance Jackson (11). Ezzeddine and Jackson also led the Lobos in rebounds with six and eight, respectively. NMSU was led by JoJo Zamora who scored 27 points, followed by Ivan Aurrecoechea (23) and Eli Chuha (13). Chuha and Aurrecoechea finished with double-doubles, posting 10 and 11 boards, respectively.

The Lobos are set to return to action on Friday to finish off their three-game road stint with a contest against Saint Mary’s in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, Calif. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m MT.