New Mexico State stunned by Chicago State 61-59; miss out on WAC title share for now
CHICAGO, Illinois - It is certainly biggest upset in the WAC this season. And it might be one of the biggest upsets in all of college basketball.
Brandon Betson's lay-in with two seconds left pushed 17-point underdog Chicago State to a 61-59 win over New Mexico State, squandering the Aggies' chance to clinch a share of the WAC title on Saturday.
It's just the Cougars' second win all-time against New Mexico State in 24 tries.
With guard Mario McKinney Jr. suspended and key contributors Johnny McCants, Nate Pryor, and Yuat Alok unavailable due to non-covid illness, the New Mexico State came out flat against the Cougars and trailed by as many as twelve in the first half.
A 5-0 run to open the second half gave the Aggies their first lead of the game at 33-32, but the Cougars kept pace as the clock continued to wind.
New Mexico State leading scorer Teddy Allen, fresh off a 30-point outing in a win at Grand Canyon, was benched for the final eight minutes of the contest and was seen appearing to be arguing with New Mexico State Head Coach Chris Jans on the TV broadcast in a timeout huddle.
"He just didn't seem to have the juice," said Jans of the presumptive WAC Player of the Year. "He didn't seem to be connected into what we were trying to do,so we made a decision to go in another direction."
"I thought it was going to work out. Obviously, in the end it didn't."
The Aggies took a 59-56 lead with 1:52 to play but CHicago State's Jahsean Corbett converted a three-point play to tie it at 59 with 1:23 left.
With Allen on the bench, Jabari Rice tried to give the Aggies the lead under one minute. But the Houston, TX native was blocked at the rim on a potential go-ahead layup to give the final possession to the Cougars.
Betson, who had a game-high 17 points, took his defender off the dribble and made a tough lay-in off the glass to give the Cougars the lead for good with virtually no time left.
Chicago State has been very competitive this season under coach Gerald Gillion, and put up a spirited effort in a 78-61 loss at New Mexico State back in January.
The Cougars' now three conference wins are the program's most since 2014-2015 when they finished 4-10 in the WAC.
For the Aggies, they remain in sole possession of first place in the WAC but see there lead decreased to one game.
Stephen F. Austin knocked off Abilene Christian at the buzzer to move to 20-8 (12-4 WAC), a game back of New Mexico State. As fate would have it, the Lumberjacks travel to the Pan-American Center to play the Aggies this Wednesday.
With a win, the Aggies again would clinch a share of the WAC title. Tipoff is set for 7pm MT.
