LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KTSM) – New Mexico State men’s basketball secured an 82-75 win over Seattle U at the Pan American Center on Saturday night.
I am pleased with the outcome, but I would like to see us have more of a put them away type mentality. That is the next step for definitely,” NM State head coach Greg Heiar said. “I thought we relaxed a little bit, we got a little complacent, but again, that is all part of having a new team and a new group of guys and learning how to win.”
After they grabbed their first WAC win of the 2022-23 season on Wednesday, Greg Heiar and his squad grabbed another win to put together a two-game winning streak.
“Wednesday’s game was so big because it kind of got the monkey off our back,” Heiar said. “To get the monkey off our back and then to have another two great days of practice and to get the practices now on to the court, it just shows that if you just stick with things, you keep working, you have a positive attitude, and you have the right energy level and the right commitment to doing hard stuff, good things will happen.”
“I give these guys a ton of credit because they hung in there through all the noise,” Heiar said. “There was a lot of negativity, we’ll just leave it at that and they kept fighting and they kept coming every day to work and we keep getting better. I’m proud of all these guys.”
New Mexico State had six players end the night in double figures in scoring. Anthony Roy led the way with 15 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the floor. DaJuan Gordon was the second leading scorer as he recorded 14 points. Issa Muhammad and James Beck each tallied 12 points. Xavier Pinson scored 11 points and Doctor Bradley scored 10 points.
New Mexico State shot 54% (27-50) from the floor, 40% (6-15) from three-point land, and 85% (22-26) from the free throw line. NMSU outscored Seattle U, 25-7 in bench points and 23-2 in fast break points.
NMSU came up with 8 steals on Seattle U’s 10 turnovers in the game.
Seattle U was led by Cameron Tyson, who scored 24 points on 8-of-23 shooting from the floor. Riley Grigsby scored 17 points on 6-of-16 shooting and Alex Schumacher recorded 14 points on the night.
Seattle U shot 37% (26-71) from the floor, 30% (11-37) from three-point land, and 86% (12-14) from the free throw line.
Things didn’t start well for New Mexico State as Seattle U jumped out to a 9-0 lead at the 17:55 mark of the first half. NMSU battled back at tied the game at 17 after a Xavier Pinson three-pointer with 11:05 to go. The Aggies then took their first lead of the game after a Pinson block led to a Doctor Bradley fastbreak dunk with 10:41 to go in the first.
The Aggies kept the lead and built it up to as big as nine points, 37-28, with 2:43 to go until halftime. New Mexico State kept in that way as they went into the half with a 42-33 lead.
In the second half, New Mexico State extended their lead to 17 points, 66-49, after a made jumper from Anthony Roy with 9:00 to go in the game.
Seattle U did not go down without swinging. The Redhawks cut their deficit down to four points, 75-71, with 1:03 left in the game. New Mexico State responded to the late rally and added more pad to their lead as they secured an 82-75 win once the final buzzer went off.
New Mexico State (9-14, 2-9 WAC) will now gear up to hit the road for their next two contests. The Aggies will first play at Grand Canyon on Wednesday, Feb 8. and then turn around to play at California Baptist on Saturday, Feb. 11.
