![\"University](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/USW_Mustangs.png\")
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Next Game:<\/p>\n
University of the Southwest<\/p>\n
12\/28\/2025 | 2:00 p.m.<\/p>\n
\n 99.5 FM KXPZ \/ 96.7 FM La Equis
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\n Dec. 28 (Sun) \/ 2:00 p.m.
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\n \u00a0University of the Southwest
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History <\/a><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n LAS CRUCES, N.M.<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0NM State (7\u20133, 1\u20130 CUSA) opened Conference USA play in strong fashion today, earning an 87\u201378 victory over Sam Houston (7\u20134, 0\u20131 CUSA) inside the Pan American Center. After using a dominant first-half performance to build a 20-point advantage at the break, the Aggies withstood a second-half push that saw the Bearkats trim the deficit to 10 before NM State responded with\u00a0a timely\u00a0run to pull\u00a0away down\u00a0the stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n NM State finished the afternoon shooting 51.5%\u00a0from the field (35-68), while receiving a decisive lift from its bench, which outscored Sam Houston 46\u201317.\u00a0<\/p>\n After Sam Houston briefly took an early 3\u20130 lead, the Aggies quickly seized control. NM State erupted on a 10\u20130 run in the opening minutes, sparked by five points from Jemel Jones<\/a>, to set the tone for the\u00a0remainder\u00a0of the half. Later, with the Aggies firmly in rhythm, NM State pieced together another extended scoring surge that ballooned its advantage to 20 points. A three-pointer from Elijah Elliott<\/a> in the closing seconds capped the half and sent NM State into the locker room with a commanding 48\u201328 lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Aggies’ depth proved pivotal throughout the opening 20 minutes, as the bench accounted for 30 first-half points while NM State consistently found quality looks on the offensive end.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sam Houston showed resilience coming out of the break, trimming the Aggie\u00a0lead\u00a0to 10\u00a0midway\u00a0through the second half. However,\u00a0NM\u00a0State responded\u00a0immediately. The Aggies answered with an 8\u20130 run to reestablish separation, halting the Bearkats’ momentum and pushing the lead back to a comfortable margin for the\u00a0remainder\u00a0of the contest\u00a0as they would walk away with an 87-78 win in the Pan American Center.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Off the bench, Elijah Elliott<\/a> led all\u00a0Aggies\u00a0with 18 points, tying his season high. Jayland Randall<\/a> followed with 16 points, his second-highest scoring total of the season. The duo has now combined to lead NM State in scoring off the bench for the second time this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Aggies also received balanced contributions from the starting group, as Anthony Wrzeszcz<\/a>\u00a0and Jemel Jones<\/a> each finished with 11 points to give NM State four players in double figures.\u00a0<\/p>\n NUMBERS OF NOTE\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n This win marks the third consecutive season the Aggies have opened league play with a victory, following last year’s conference-opening win against Sam Houston and a home\u00a0victory versus\u00a0UTEP during the 2023\u201324 season in Head Coach Jason Hooten<\/a>‘s first year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n<\/ul>\n NM State connected on 51.5% of its field-goal attempts, finishing 35-68, and marking the Aggies’ second-best shooting night of the season behind their 54 percent performance in a victory over Samford.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n<\/ul>\n Elijah Elliott<\/a> matched his season high with 18 points off the bench to lead NM State in scoring, while Jayland Randall<\/a> added 16 points, his second-highest total of the season. This marked the second time this year that Elliott and Randall have both come off the bench and finished as the Aggies’ top two scorers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n<\/ul>\n Four Aggies reached double figures in the win, as Anthony Wrzeszcz<\/a>\u00a0and Jemel Jones<\/a> each finished with 11 points to complement the scoring efforts of Elliott and Randall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n<\/ul>\n NM State leaned heavily on its depth, as the Aggie bench outscored Sam Houston 46\u201317, providing a decisive edge in the conference opener. The 46 bench points marked their second-highest reserve performances of the season for the Aggies. Where they put up 49 points off the bench against South Alabama.\u00a0
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\n<\/ul>\n For complete coverage of NM State Men’s Basketball, visit NMStateSports.com – the official home of Aggie\u00a0athletics\u00a0– and follow us on Twitter (@NMStateMBB), Instagram (@NMStateMBB), and like us on Facebook (NMStateMBB).\u00a0<\/p>\n ++NM State++\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Next Game: University of the Southwest 12\/28\/2025 | 2:00 p.m.
99.5 FM KXPZ \/…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":464085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[4345,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-464084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-texas","10":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115762583687235001","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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