NMSU tops UTEP in Battle of I-10, 63-53

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico - Round one of the Battle of I-10 went to the New Mexico State Aggies.

Thursday night in Las Cruces, the Aggies defeated the UTEP Miners, 63-53.

It was the first Conference USA game of the season for both teams, and the first conference matchup between the Miners and Aggies since 1962.

This is NMSU's first season as members of Conference USA.

The Miners continue to struggle to find any consistency offensively, while the Aggies did just enough to get past their I-10 rival.

NMSU took a 28-22 lead into the half.

The Aggies would never give up the lead in the entire second half.

NMSU's Christian Cook led the way in scoring for NMSU with 15 points.

UTEP's Tae Hardy had a solid night leading the way for the Miners with 21 points.

The Miners' overall record drops to 8-7 on the season, but more importantly they begin conference play with a loss, 0-1.

For the Aggies, their overall records now stands at 7-9 as they begin conference play 1-0.

The two teams will meet again February 10 at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso.

For now, UTEP will look to bounce back quickly as their next game is Sunday at home against Chicago State.

Tipoff is at 1 p.m. from the Don Haskins Center.

The Aggies will have a week to prepare for their next game at Florida International University, Thursday, January 11.

Tipoff is at 5 p.m. MNT from Miami, Florida.

(Courtesy: UTEP Athletics)

UTEP held the Aggies to only 3-13 from 3-point range, but NM State registered 30 points in the paint to the Miners’ 22 to compensate. Overall, the home side finished at 44.0 percent (22-50) from the floor, even though Orange and Blue locked them up to the tune of 37.5 percent (9-24) over the final 20 minutes of action.

“I think the toughest team was going to win,” UTEP head coach Joe Golding said. “We got outrebounded by 13. Part of that was due to switching. We switched one through five because we wanted to take away the three and we did. They only got three 3-pointers, but the negative to that is you’re going to give up some offensive rebounds.

“It’s a 16-game Conference USA schedule,” Golding said. “You’ve got to steal as many as you can (on the road) and we’re 0-1,” Golding said. “We’ve got seven more opportunities on the road, so you’ve got to keep battling and trust the process. We’re going to have an opportunity in a month from now to protect our home floor (vs. NM State). We’ve got to keep your chin up, keep working and find the guys who want to do it our way.”

Both teams came out shooting and it was a high-scoring affair early, with UTEP leading 13-10 with 14:10 left in the first half.

The Miners hit four of their first six shots, including 3-3 from distance.

NM State’s offense was even hotter, though, nailing eight consecutive field goals at one point.

That aided in the home side ripping off seven straight points to force Golding to call timeout with the Orange and Blue down four (17-13, 12:02 1H).

As it turned out, UTEP would not lead again.

NM State added a lay-up in transition, a dunk and a free throw to nudge the differential to nine (22-13), with the Miners enduring a more than seven-minute scoring drought. Hardy finally halted the surge with a fadeaway jumper.

After UTEP forced a turnover, Hardy was hammered without a call but still finished at the rim with the contested lay-up to inch the Miners within five (22-17, 5:50, 1H).

The home side got it back to seven (26-19, 1:39, 1H) before a corner 3-pointer from Terrell Jr. brought UTEP within four.

NM State scored on its final possession of the half, and the Miners faced a six-point deficit (28-22) heading into the locker room.

UTEP was down by five (33-28, 16:48, 2H) early in the second stanza only to have the Aggies peel off seven straight points and extend their advantage to double figures (40-28). Frazier III stopped it with a lay-up off a beautiful feed from Terrell Jr.

NM State pushed it back to 12 (44-32), but a corner jumper from Corey Camper Jr. was followed by two Hardy free throws to cut it to eight. After another stop, Hardy buried a 3-pointer to make it a 7-0 run and a five-point contest (44-39, 10:40, 2H).

The Aggies countered with a 7-2 push to once again lead by double digits (51-41, 8:38, 2H).

UTEP continued to chip away at the margin, working its way to within just four (53-49, 4:51, 2H).

NM State scored on its next two possessions to power a 5-0 run, and UTEP couldn’t get closer than seven the rest of the way.