Once again, Seattle University fell victim to an early offensive outburst, as New Mexico State quickly opened a double-digit lead and held on for a 96-87 victory Thursday night in Western Athletic Conference men’s collegiate basketball action at the Pan American Center.
New Mexico State (13-5, 2-0 WAC) opened an early six-point lead with an 8-2 run, capped by five straight points from K.C. Ross-Miller. The Redhawks were able to stay within striking distance thanks to three-pointers by Isiah Umipig (Federal Way, Wash.) and Clarence Trent (Tacoma, Wash.), as well as consecutive baskets from Deshaun Sunderhaus (Conyers, Ga.) that cut the Aggie lead to three at 18-15 nine minutes into the game.
Over the next three minutes, New Mexico State went on a 14-2 run to extend its lead to 15 at 32-17, including six points by Kevin Aronis. Later in the first half, Aronis would hit back-to-back contested three-pointers to further expand the Aggie advantage to 42-21, and New Mexico State would cruise into halftime ahead, 48-28.
Sunderhaus scored consecutive baskets in the first minute of the second half, but New Mexico State settled down and maintained a significant advantage through the vast majority of the second half. Down 77-58 after an alley-oop dunk by DK Eldridge, the Redhawks closed their deficit to 11 by scoring eight unanswered points, six of them coming from D’Vonne Pickett Jr. (Seattle, Wash.). In the final three minutes, the Aggies went 15-for-19 from the free throw line, holding off a Redhawk rally that featured four three-pointers in the final minute.
“They (New Mexico State) did a good job of adjusting when we tried to take their big men out of the game,” Seattle U head coach Cameron Dollar said. “We made some uncharacteristic turnovers, plus we did not do a good job on the defensive boards. We kept scrapping and fighting as usual, but we can’t dig ourselves a big hole like that, especially against the best team in the league.”
For the third consecutive game, Umipig scored 24 points, while Sunderhaus notched his second double-double of the season and sixth of his career with a season-high 22 points and 12 rebounds, eight of those offensive boards. Pickett played the entire second half, scoring 18 of his career-high 20 points after halftime as he shot 8-of-9 from the field and 4-of-4 from the free throw line during the night.
Five players scored in double figures for New Mexico State, led by Eldridge with 18 points and nine rebounds along with Renaldo Dixon with 18 points, six rebounds, and two blocked shots. Daniel Mullings played a complete game for the Aggies, collecting 13 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and seven steals, while Aronis contributed 15 points off the bench and Ross-Miller added 12 points to the winning effort.
Seattle U shot 48.4 percent (31-of-64) from the field, including 8-of-17 from behind the three-point line, and 68.0 percent (17-of-25) from the free throw line, plus the Redhawks won the rebounding battle, 35-33. However, New Mexico State forced 16 Redhawk turnovers that led to 26 points, as the Aggies shot 52.9 percent (27-of-51) from the field and made 35 free throws in 53 attempts, plus the home team committed only nine turnovers.
Seattle University (8-7, 0-2 WAC) heads to Edinburg, Texas, for Saturday’s conference matchup against the Texas-Pan American Broncs starting at 7 p.m. local time (5 p.m. Pacific Time). Gary Hill Jr. will broadcast the game live from the UTPA Fieldhouse on 770 AM KTTH The Truth, starting with the pregame show shortly before tipoff.