NMSU Men top UMKC on the road
The New Mexico State Aggies locked up a share of the 2016 regular season Western Athletic Conference Championship onSaturdaywith a come-from-behind 62-61 win over Missouri-Kansas City at Municipal Auditorium.
The Aggies (21-9, 12-1) claimed its third WAC regular season title in 11 seasons. UMKC (10-18, 3-10) lost its third straight game and the second to NM State by one point this season.
It wasn’t an easy one for the Aggies.
After calling timeout trailing 40-31 with 15:59 to play, the Aggies answered with a 22-8 run over 10-and-a half minutes to an Aggie lead.
NM State has one regular season game remainingnext Saturdayat UT Rio Grande Valley. The Aggies hold a one-game lead on Grand Canyon and can win the WAC title outright for a second straight season with a win or a GCU loss.
The Aggie had already clinched the top seed for the WAC Tournament. The tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas isMarch 10-12.
“The guys executed perfectly out of the timeout,” said NM State head coach Marvin Menzies. “We get a quick duck-in from Tanveer (Bhullar) and Pascal (Siakam) gets fouled and they got their heads back into it. We handled the pressure a little better in the second half and we got comfortable in our offense.”
Sophomore Pascal Siakam led the way for the Aggies with his 24th double-double of the season. The 6-9 forward from Douala, Cameroon, chalked up 17 points with 11 rebounds and two steals.
