NMSU comes up short in tournament final, Aggies fall to the USC Trojans 77-72

All the New Mexico State Aggies needed was one more win on Christmas Day in order to be crowned the 2017 champions of the Diamond Head Classic tournament.

Unfortunately, the USC Trojans spoiled the party for the Aggies, hitting a 3-point shot in the final seconds of the game to help give the Trojans the win by a final of 77-72.

The Aggies’ trip to Hawaii was a success up until Monday’s championship game.

NMSU got some big time wins in the tournament, first against Davidson and then against a Miami team that was 10-0 and ranked 6th in the nation.

The USC Trojans defeated Middle Tennessee in the semi-finals of the tournament and entered the championship final with an 8-4 record.

The Aggies jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the opening minutes of the game, but the Trojans would not stay quite for long scoring 14 unanswered points.

By halftime the game was tied at 34.

The second half of the game turned into a shootout with both teams trading the lead.

They would end up tied at 72 points with just 22 seconds left in the game.

USC’s Bennie Boatwright would hit a 3-point shot in the closing seconds of the game to put the Trojans up 75-72.

Boatwright had 33 points in the contest.

NMSU would have only 4 seconds to try and tie the game, but USC would steal the ball on the inbounds pass to seal the deal.

NMSU’s Zach Lofton had another big game leading the way in scoring for the Aggies with 28 points.

The loss snapped a 5 game win streak for the Aggies and puts their overall record at 11-3.

NMSU will now head to California to take on UC-Irvine, a team out of the Big West Conference.

Tip-off is at 8 p.m. on Thursday.