NM State claims 75-64 win over Dixie State; McCants moves into 1,000-point club

(Courtesy: NMSU Athletics)

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico - Hitting 1,000 points in one's collegiate career is a milestone most players will remember for the rest of their lives.

Doing so in front of one's hometown crowd, though, is something just a handful of players - Johnny McCants now included - can claim to have done.

Playing in front of the citizens of his stomping grounds for one of the final times in his collegiate career, McCants became the fourth player on NM State's roster to eclipse the 1,000-point mark which helped the Aggies turn back a Dixie State comeback bid in a 75-64 triumph over the Trailblazers Wednesday night inside the Pan American Center.

Teddy Allen added a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double as NM State kept its place atop the WAC standings (21-4, 11-2 WAC) with five regular-season games remaining.

Seattle U also got a win Wednesday night to remain tied for first place in the WAC listing with NM State.

KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• McCants stole the show with his history-making night, but Allen still got his. The Phoenix, Ariz., product submitted his second-straight double-double which was his fourth in the last six games and extended his streak of 20+ point
outings to seven-straight games. Allen is the only Aggie in the 21st century who has netted 20 or more points in seven-straight games.

• The two free throws McCants hit with 1:07 to go put him at 1,001 career points - 37th on the Aggies' all-time scoring list. By gathering up six rebounds, the Las Cruces, N.M., product hiked his career total to 715 which puts him three shy of tying Jeff Smith for 10th on the Aggies' all-time charts.

• Promoted to the starting lineup for the first time in 2022, Peake put forth his second-straight strong performance by finishing with 12 points on a 6-of-9 shooting clip. He also amassed five of the team's 38 rebounds and is averaging 14 points on a 68.4-percent showing from the field over his last two outings.

• McKinney Jr., turned in his first double-digit scoring outing of the 2022 calendar year by finishing with 10 points on a 4-of-5 night from the field.

• Bouncing back after losses in the Chris Jans coaching era continued to happen Wednesday night. NM State moved to 24-4 (.857) in games directly following a loss in Jans' tenure as head coach with the victory over Dixie State.

• NM State is one of three NCAA Division I college basketball teams this season who have had two of their players reach the 1,000-point milestone in back-to-back games. Rice reached 1,000 points in his NM State career Saturday in his team's WAC setback at Utah Valley before McCants hit that particular milestone inside the Pan American Center Wednesday night. NM State, Colorado State and UNC Wilmington all had two players reach 1,000 points in back-to-back games this season.

• NM State ran its winning streak over WAC foes inside the Pan American Center to 33 games with its fourth triumph over Dixie State. The Aggies moved to 4-0 against the Trailblazers since the series between the two teams started in March of 2021.

• For Dixie State, it failed to pick up back-to-back WAC wins despite 14 points from Schofield and another 13 courtesy of Leter. Four different Trailblazers racked up 10 or more points, but they finished with a -13 (38-25) disadvantage on the glass.

COMING UP NEXT
• Back on the road once again, NM State's next destination is Phoenix, Ariz., and the always-packed GCU Arena for a premier Saturday night showdown with Grand Canyon.

Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m. as NM State seeks its first regular-season sweep of the Lopes since 2019-20.