Southern Utah downs New Mexico State in men's WAC basketball opener

Southern Utah showed an ability to play tough teams on the road entering Wednesday's Western Athletic Conference men's basketball opener at New Mexico State.

The Thunderbirds lost by eight at undefeated New Mexico, lost by six at national power Kansas and eight at the Pac 12's Colorado. Those close losses and their offensive ability (they were averaging 90 points per game entering Wednesday's game) paid dividends in their 79-75 win at the Pan American Center.

Southern Utah improves to 9-5 and New Mexico State falls to 7-6, losing its first home game of the year in the process in five games.

Southern Utah never trailed in the second half and led by as much as 14, 63-49, New Mexico struggled from the field in the second half making 11 of 27 overall and 2 of 8 from 3-point range. Still, the Aggies had a chance to make the game their own. A steal and an eventual dunk by Deshawndre Washington pulled NMSU with 72-68 with a minute left.

But on the ensuing possession, Southern Utah's Maizen Fausett scored on a rebound follow and completed the three-point play after being fouled to put the Thunderbirds up 75-68. The Aggies cut it to 78-75 with 2.3 seconds left on an Xavier Pinson 3-pointer, but Southern Utah closed the game out with a free throw for the final margin.

"Southern Is a good team. I was disappointed in our attention to detail, in our energy," NMSU coach Greg Heiar said. "That's on me. We're used to winning championships around here and it's disappointing to start league play with a loss. What we didn't do well are things we address in practice. We have to find consistency."

The Aggies are in their final year of competing in the WAC before moving to Conference USA and have won 10 WAC Tournaments across 17 seasons. They were picked second in the preseason media and coaches poll prior to the season, while Southern Utah wasn't highly thought of as it was picked ninth in both polls and played its first every WAC game on Wednesday.

But the Thunderbirds were excellent for the most part Wednesday with good ball movement and finding the open man with their pick and roll play, They made 10 of 23 from 3-point range, 27 of 57 from the field overall and had five players reach double figures. Tevian Jones led the way with 20 points, followed by Drake Allen with 14, Jason Spurgin with 12, Cameron Healy with 11 and Fausett with 10. Allen scored all of his points in the second half. But 12 missed free throws helped NMSU stay in the game.

"We have a lot to work on," Pinson said. "We have to stay consistent and stay solid on the defensive end."

Deshawndre Washington led the Aggies with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists and Pinson followed with 16 points. But the Aggies were outscored 25-10 on points off turnovers despite the turnover battle being close, the Aggies had 16 and the Thunderbirds had 15.

"We weren't making too many of our 3's," Washington said. "we have to rely on geting to the basket and make our defense have an impact."

Added Heiar: "We have a lot of problems we have to address. Giving up 79 points at home is unacceptable, our team defense has to be better. The 25 points we gave up off our turnovers is a major problem."

Close first half

New Mexico State scored the game's first 10 points but couldn't maintain the lead and wound up trailing 37-32 after the first 20 minutes.

NMSU was hurt by foul trouble as guard Pinson and post Issa Muhammad combined for just eight minutes after each picking up a pair fouls early in the game.

Pinson started strong had had five points before his departure for the half. Meanwhile, Jones led the Thunderbirds comeback with 15 points, all on 3-pointers. He made 5 of 6 from beyond the arc. Overall, Southern Utah made 8 of 14 from 3-point range and the Aggies were hurt by 10 turnovers.

Washington and Anthony Roy led the Aggies with nine points apiece. All of Roy's points came via the 3-point route and Washington added four rebounds and three assists.

"We can't get into foul trouble," Pinson said. "Southern Utah took advantage of our weaknesses."

Up next

The Aggies are back home Saturday for a matchup with 10-2 Sam Houston State with the tip at 4 p.m. The Thunderbirds are at home against UT-Rio Grande Valley.

More: NMSU splits in tourney New Mexico State earns split in Sun Bowl basketball tournament

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

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Southern Utah downs New Mexico State in men's WAC basketball opener