Aggies hand undefeated Miners their 1st loss of the season, 59-56
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- New Mexico State scored its eighth straight win over UTEP at the Pan American Center, 59-56, as the Aggies also handed the undefeated Miners their first lost of the season on Tuesday night.
New Mexico State (5-4) rebounded in this season's second Battle of I-10 game to recover from their November loss to UTEP (5-1) in El Paso.
C.J. Bobbitt posted 14 points, including two free throws with 12.5 seconds left to lead New Mexico State.
The Miners, who called a timeout with 8.8 seconds to play, got up two 3-point attempts before time ran out.
The Aggies did not make a basket in the last 6:03 and UTEP didn’t score from the field in the last 5:12 as the teams combined to miss their last 15 shots to go with seven turnovers.
“Give those guys credit. They were a little tougher than us,” UTEP head coach Rodney Terry said of NMSU. “We weren’t as tough as we needed to be and didn’t have the resistance that we needed around the basket.”
It was the 218th meeting between the schools, and the Aggies evened the season series against the Miners with the win. UTEP defeated New Mexico State 65-50 on Nov. 12 to end NMSU’s nine-game overall winning streak in the series.
