New Mexico State earns split in Sun Bowl basketball tournament

New Mexico State got a pair of challenges in the WestStar Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational at the Don Haskins Center.

Wednesday was a competitive 73-63 loss to Kent State and on Thursday, the Aggies held off feisty North Carolina A&T squad, 85-76 leading up to the start of Western Athletic Conference play next week. Thursday's game was the consolation of the Sun Bowl Invite.

New Mexico State used a balanced attack and a good pace on offense Thursday night to improve to 7-5 on the season, while North Carolina A&T falls to 5-8.

Guard Xavier Pinson and forward Marchelus Avery led NMSU with 20 points each, forward Doctor Bradley scored 15 points, guard Kyle Feit scored 13 points and forward Issa Muhammad scored 12 points. Avery added a game-high 10 rebounds and Pinson added 5 assists. Guard Deshawndre Washington scored just 5 points, but had 9 rebounds and 6 assists.

New Mexico State outrebounded NC A&T, 45-35, had more points in the paint, 44-14, and had just 8 turnovers. The Aggies finished the game 33-of-66 from ther field.

North Carolina A&T made 15 3-pointers and made 15 of 18 free throws to stay in the game. Demetric Horton led his team with 23 points and Marcus Watson had 20 points. Kam Woods added 13 points for NC A&T. He was teammates with Washington and was coached by NMSU coach Greg Heiar at Northwest Florida College last season. Watson played for NMSU in the 2020-21 season.

Wild first half

New Mexico stormed out to a 23-3 lead but NC A&T fought back and pulled within 29-28 before New Mexico State settled down and led 46-36 at halftime.

The Aggies made 19 of 36 from the field, got 16 points from guard Pinson and 10 points from Feit. Pinson was just 3-of-10 from the field in Wednesday's loss to Kent State. Feit hit a pair of big 3's after North Carolina A&T cut the lead to 29-28.

North Carolina A&T made seven 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes, more than half of its field goals made in the first half. Horton scored 12 points to lead the way.

The two teams combined for just five turnovers in the first half.

What the winning coach said

"We've shown the ability to come back all season long and that's been a strong characteristic for us this season," Heiar said. "We came out with a great effort the first seven minutes of the game and to its credit, North Carolina A&T came back. But we finished strong. Deshawndre only had the five points, but he led us in other ways. The two games we got in this tournament were great for us. We faced a tough defensive team in Kent State and got a tough game against North Carolina A&T."

What the winning players said

"We got tested mentally and physically in this tournament," Washington said. "If we can win the rebound battle, win the points in the paint and the turnover battle or at least two of the three, we'll have a good chance to win a lot of games. We did a good job against North Carolina A&T."

Up next

New Mexico State is off until next Dec. 28 when it begins WAC play at home against Southern Utah.

More: NMSU falls to Kent State Kent State knocks off New Mexico State to advance to Sun Bowl Invitational title game

Felix F. Chavez can be reached at fchavez@elpasotimes.com; @Fchavezeptimes on Twitter

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: New Mexico State earns split in Sun Bowl basketball tournament