Dec. 6, 2014
Final Stats |
Photo Gallery by Michael Patrick Reese 
NM State 71, UTEP 64 (Box Score) 
Travon Landry scored six of his eight points during a 17-4 second half run, catapulting undermanned NM State to a 71-64 win over UTEP on Saturday at the Pan American Center.
Braxton Huggins added five points during the spurt for the Aggies (4-5), who turned a 49-40 deficit into a 57-53 lead on their way to splitting the season series with the Miners (4-3).
NMSU was playing without star guard Daniel Mullings and big man Tshilidzi Nephawe, who were sidelined with a finger and foot injury respectively.
"You've got to give the Aggies credit," UTEP coach Tim Floyd said. "They got down and they continued to fight back. We noticed that in the Lobo game [Wednesday] where they were down with about eight or nine minutes to go and were still pressuring and fighting real hard."
The Miners dropped their third straight game following four wins to open the season. When the Aggies went ahead 52-51 on a Landry free throw with 8:55 to go, it was the first time they were up since 16-14 midway through the first half.
UTEP didn't lead again. The Miners cut it to three (60-57) with 4:05 left on two free throws by Julian Washburn, but didn't score again until 1:19 remaining.
The Miners outshot the Aggies 42.1 percent to 39.6 percent, and outrebounded NMSU 38-32. The Aggies scored 11 points off turnovers in the second half and had a 16-8 edge for the game. NMSU also made 25-of-30 free throws to UTEP's 13-of-17.
"You look at the stat sheet and you feel like you won," Floyd said. "We won most categories except for the free throw line. We couldn't get to the line and couldn't keep them off the line."
C.J. Cooper and Cedrick Lang led the Miners with 12 points. UTEP's other senior, Washburn, was 1-for-8 from the field. Earvin Morris scored 10 points off the bench.
Matt Willms had perhaps his best game as a Miner with five points, nine rebounds and four blocks in only 20 minutes. Vince Hunter didn't start and couldn't stay out of foul trouble, scoring eight points with five boards.
"We couldn't keep Vince Hunter in the game long enough," Floyd said. "He played 16 minutes. It's not enough minutes. Matt Willms was really impactful in the game. Defensively he blocked shots and his presence ... he fouled out and it was a real problem for us in terms of their penetration and their ability to get to the rim."
Remi Barry led the Aggies with 15 points. DK Eldridge scored 14, and Pascal Siakam 12. NMSU outscored UTEP 36-29 in the second half. During that span the Aggies were 13-for-16 from the charity stripe, and UTEP was 3-for-4.
"They did a really nice job of pressuring us up and continuing to fight," Floyd said. "Barry had a couple of big field goals down the stretch. He's a very good player. Siakam is going to be a special player before he leaves here."
The teams battled to a 35-35 halftime deadlock. The Miners came out strong in the first seven minutes of the second half, outscoring the Aggies 14-5. Then came the 17-4 run. Floyd explained what happened.
"We had a freshman guard in there [Lew Stallworth] trying to give C.J. a little blow," he said. "We could only leave him out there for about a minute, minute and a half. They got under us a couple of times. We had two turnovers. We had a couple of offensive fouls during the stretch as well. They got a lot of plays at the rim during that stretch. Everything was at the rim. They just turned the game on us quick with their pressure."
So the Miners find themselves a game over .500, and it doesn't get any easier with another undefeated team, Incarnate Word, on tap for Monday at 7 in the Haskins Center. The Cardinals are 5-0, won at Princeton and are averaging over 90 points per game while shooting 47.9 percent from three-point range.
"We've got to regroup. We're playing another very good team on Monday," Floyd said. "We knew that this was going to be arguably the most difficult stretch of our schedule and we knew it would help prepare us once we got into league play. And I trust that's still true."
