Lobos Fall in Las Cruces

These Lobos have no quit in them, but it's clear they're a few big men short of being a very good team. The New Mexico State Aggies absolutely demolished the Lobos on the boards in a 71-62 loss for New Mexico.

New Mexico came out of the game a little sluggish offensively and the Aggies led for much of the first half. The Lobos kept chipping away and played good enough defense to tie the game at 26 late in the first half. In a play that was indicative of the entire game, the Aggies then missed a long three but got a huge tip-in dunk to end the half ahead, 28-26.

The second half saw both the Aggies and the Lobos begin to shoot better, but the Lobos were never able to stop Passos, Hawkins and McKines on the offensive boards and the Aggies led by double digits for much of the second half. New Mexico kept the Aggies from blowing the game open by hitting a few threes, but in the end it just wasn't enough.

Chad Toppert shot the lights out of the ball with 20 points on 6 three pointers and Jamaal Smith added 17, but the rest of the team did not play particularly well offensively. JR Giddens had 4 points on 2-10 shooting and Daniel Faris was in foul trouble for much of the night. Monquel Pegues saw his most extensive action of the season but was simply outmatched by Passos and Iti and looked lost on offense.

Simply put, the Aggies are bigger, stronger, faster, and they can jump higher. It's going to take a supreme effort in Albuquerque for the Lobos to get a split.