Men’s Basketball: NMSU advances to WAC semis with win over Chicago St.

The NMSU men’s basketball team is now two wins away from another appearance in the NCAA Tournament after easily defeating Chicago State in the WAC quarterfinals Thursday night in Las Vegas.

The Aggies jumped out to a 21-6 lead just over nine minutes into the game and never looked back en route to a 97-70 victory.

NMSU improved to 26-5 on the season while Chicago State’s year ends with the Cougars posting a 3-29 record.

The Aggies saw 12 players score with Zach Lofton leading the way with 21 points. WAC Player of the Year Jemerrio Jones grabbed 15 rebounds to go along with eight points.

NMSU dominated the Cougars on the glass, outrebounding Chicago State 51-27.

The Aggies will play the winner of Seattle and UTRGV in the WAC semifinals on Friday at 9:30 p.m. MST on ESPN3.

NMSU has now won four games in a row after suffering back-to-back losses late in the conference season.