Aggies reclaim top spot in WAC with convincing win over Seattle

LAS CRUCES — A game of unexpected importance calls for unexpected events — both on and off the court.

Outside of the Seattle U men's basketball program, few expected Saturday afternoon's game between New Mexico State and the Redhawks to decide who would lead the Western Athletic Conference about midway through the conference schedule. Few also expected a lighting issue after the introduction of the starting lineups to cause a 14-minute delay before the opening tip.

The odds were even more slim that for the second time this season, a team in the Pan American Center shot the lights out for at least a half after a lighting-related delay. But unlike the last time the Aggies were in those circumstances, when New Mexico dominated NMSU in late November, the Aggies got the fortuitous bounces in the first half of their 79-64 win over Seattle.

How it happened

Saturday's delay wasn't due to another power outage at the Pan Am. When the lights were dimmed for the pre-game hype video and starting lineup introduction, the arena's industrial game lights turned off as well. Both teams resumed their warmup routines while they waited for the lights to reach full strength.

More: Schools showing interest in New Mexico State AD Mario Moccia

But it didn't give the Aggies any rust in the opening minutes.

Graduate transfer forward Yuat Alok exploded for eight points and a block on NMSU's first five possessions. Redshirt junior guards Jabari Rice and Teddy Allen each added a bucket. And redshirt senior forward Johnny McCants' 3-pointer just over six minutes into the game gave the Aggies a nine-point lead in the early going.

The lead swelled to 10 by the eight-minute mark. Seattle, which shot 33% from the field and 14% from beyond the arc, couldn't cut the deficit to fewer than three possessions the rest of the half. The Redhawks electric guard tandem of sophomore Darrion Trammell, the WAC preseason Player of the Year, junior Riley Grigsby and redshirt sophomore Cameron Tyson combined for 17 of Seattle's 28 first-half points. The Aggies, shooting 56% from the field, led 40-28 at halftime. Three players had at least eight points on over 60% shooting.

However, NMSU's lights-out shooting didn't last. Their 56% field-goal percentage fell to less than 40% by the under-12-minute media timeout after hitting three of their first 19 attempts to start the second half, but they built their lead in different ways than just hitting shots from the field. They out-rebounded the Redhawks 27-17 after halftime, led by McCants' 12-point, 11-rebound double double, and 17 of their 39 second-half points came from the free-throw line.

NMSU led by as many as 19 points with 10 minutes remaining. Seattle made a desperate push in the final eight minutes and briefly cut the lead to seven, but a deep 3-pointer from Allen pushed the lead back to double figures in the last four minutes. He finished with 33 points.

Attendance spikes

NMSU had 6,302 fans in attendance for Saturday's game, roughly 1,900 more fans than what showed out for Thursday's contest against California Baptist. Saturday was the second men's game played at the Pan Am since NMSU discontinued concessions with the aim of increasing mask-wearing inside the arena.

"I would credit (athletic director) Mario Moccia and the marketing staff on (the attendance increase)," head coach Chris Jans said ...The weather Thursday wasn't very good, I'm not sure, but obviously with the disallowing of the concessions, that's affected our crowd in a negative way from my perspective, but we'll continue to ask them to support the team and the student-athletes, the ones that really have no input on the decision that was made by the University.

"But it certainly was much better, and more importantly, I just appreciate the ones that continue to support us."

Allen said the crowd was a factor and added that when the arena is full, he's more energized to play better.

More: Chris Jans weekly press conference 1/31

What was said

Allen on the pre-game delay: "I'd rather it be before the game than during the game. ...If it's before the game, it's different. But when that happened during the game, that one game, it's crazy. Because you're all intense, and the next thing you know, you're chilling for 30 minutes."

Jans on how the team built a second-half lead despite poor shooting: "Our offensive rebounding was much better in the second half. It was one of the major points we talked about at halftime. We had two offensive rebounds; they had seven. We were clearly the bigger and more athletic team, and for whatever reason they were checking us out really well and we weren't trying to beat the checks or giving multiple effort. That was disappointing. Even though we were up 12 at halftime, I thought it should have been more if we rebounded the ball better."

Jans on Seattle cutting the lead to single digits late: "That was frustrating, I think for everybody in the building, including our players and our staff. We just kind of let our foot off the gas, and I probably start serving a little too liberally (with) 10 minutes left in the game, and I've got so many guys over there that I want to get in the game. They all are working their tail off and they're good players, and I thought maybe I had an opportunity to play more guys and get them game experience and them and basically show me 'Hey, I'm ready.' And we had some of that. We had some of that with Mike Peake and Chi Chi Avery. I thought (they) gave us really good minutes and they looked good out there and they handled it really well. But some of that's on me, for the substitution pattern that I created when we were up 19 or 20."

Jans on reclaiming first in the WAC: "Haven't really thought about it. Just trying to process the game... got my parents in town, so I get to enjoy them for the rest of the evening and have a day off Sunday, and then we'll start focusing in on a couple of road trips coming up... the target will be big on our backs for the other teams we're about to play, and we'll have to make sure the kids understand that."

What's next

NMSU begins a two-game road trip to Utah Thursday at Dixie State. Seattle returns home to face UT Rio Grande Valley.

Stephen Wagner is a sports reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can found on Twitter at @stephenwag22 and reached at SWagner@lcsun-news.com.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: NMSU Aggies men's basketball reclaims top spot in WAC with convincing win over Seattle