LAS CRUCES, N.M. — The New Mexico State men’s basketball team (4-0) used a balanced scoring effort to defeat Samford University (3-4) 81-72 at the Pan American Center Nov. 21. With the win, the Aggies are now 4-0 on the year for the first time since the 2011-12 campaign. This was also the first game of the Cancun Challenge for both programs.
NMSU was led by forward Julius Mims, who scored a season-high 17 points on a perfect 7-for-7 shooting to along with 11 rebounds to secure his first double-double as an Aggie.
Guards Jemel Jones, Jayland Randall and forward Kyrese Mullen also came to play, pitching in 10 points each to round out the double-digit scoring for NMSU.
The Aggies shot an efficient 54.4% from the field and 43.8% from three-point range, both season bests. The team’s defense also got it done, holding the Bulldogs to just 40% shooting from the field and 26.7% from behind the arc.
NMSU also held Samford guard Jadin Booth, who is now averaging 21.1 points per game, to three points.
This was thanks to Aggie guard Anthony Wrzeszcz, who head coach Jason Hooten credited for his defense.
“I’m so glad that at 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning, I leaned over and took that text message and phone call from Anthony,” Hooten said in the postgame press conference. “The reason I brought him here was for nights like tonight. He’s guarding arguably one of the best shooters in the country and he gives him one three.”
NMSU started the game strong, with Mims knocking down a corner three-pointer to give the Aggies an early 3-0 lead. Mullen later followed this up with a stretch of buckets to give NMSU a 25-19 advantage at the 7:47 mark.
The Aggies built a 38-28 lead after Wrzeszcz knocked down a free throw, but Samford responded with a mini 4-0 run toward the end of the half. Wrzeszcz then threw up a three-point heave to end the first 20 minutes of action, which Mims rebounded and put back in to give NMSU a 40-32 lead going into halftime.
The Aggies started the second half strong as well, with Mims connecting on another triple to begin and a Wrzeszcz three soon after helped build a 14-point advantage. Wrzeszcz finished the night with seven points on 2-for-4 shooting from downtown.
NMSU continued its dominance and created its largest lead of the season, going up 61-40 with just under 13 minutes to go.
They later went up 68-47, but Samford did not go away as they went on a 23-9 run to cut the deficit to seven with a minute remaining.
The Aggies closed the night with four free throws to secure an 11-point lead before Bulldog guard Zion Wilburn sank pair of free throws from the charity stripe to make the final score 81-72.
Despite Aggie point guard Gabe Pickens finishing with only three points, Hooten said he was a big reason they won.
“I thought (Pickens) completely quarterbacked the game and took complete control of the game,” Hooten said. “He had eight assists, one turnover, seven rebounds and had +15 plus-minus. That says a lot.”
The Aggies will return to action against UC Irvine for the second game of the Cancun Challenge at 6:30 p.m. MT Tuesday, Nov. 25, at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya in Riviera Maya, México. If NMSU wins, it will be its first 5-0 start since the 1990-91 campaign.
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