Lobos rally past Aggies in round two of Rio Grande Rivalry, 73-72

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico - It was a much better showing for the New Mexico State Aggies in round two of the Rio Grande Rivalry.

However, the end result was the same as the New Mexico Lobos walked away with another win.

In the first meeting in Albuquerque, the Lobos won the game by 44 points.

In round two, the Aggies had the home court advantage, and they would stay in the game until the very end.

It was as close as a game could get, with the Lobos getting the 73-72 victory over their in-state rival.

The Lobos would secure their 9th win a row to improve to 10-1 on the season.

The game was low scoring for much of the first half with the Lobos taking a 32-30 lead into the half.

The two teams would trade the lead multiple times in the second half.

NMSU had a four point lead with a little more than a minute left in the game.

But with 30 seconds to go, NMSU was up 72-71, until UNM's Donovan Dent would grab a defensive rebound and take it from one end of the court to other and get a basket off a layup.

UNM would retake the lead, 73-72.

The Aggies had 16 seconds to work with to try for a game winning shot, but UNM's Nelly Junior Joseph would steal the ball away from the hands of Jaylin Jackson-Posey to secure the win for UNM.

"We gave them a game," NMSU head coach Jason Hooten said. "We won that game, we just didn't finish. Our guys felt like we were going to win the game, and we just didn't execute at the end and you have to give them credit. We've had three close games, and we haven't won one yet and think sometimes when you have a new group and a young group you have to learn how to win and you got to learn how to win those kind of games, and I think once we win one of them then I think we are going to take off." 

Posey lead the way in scoring for the Aggies with 22 points.

NMSU's record drops to 5-7.

They'll look to regroup before they hit the road for their next game against Stephen F. Austin on Tuesday.