OREM, Utah – The bench came through for the New Mexico State Aggies when it was desperately needed collecting 33 of the Aggies 78 points as NM State opened the defense of its Western Athletic Conference title with a 78-66 win over Utah Valley at the UCCU Center.
 
It wasn't easy for the Aggies (9-7, 1-0), who trailed the Wolverines (6-10, 0-1) by 12 points a couple of minutes into the second half.
 
That was when the Aggies made subbed in redshirt freshman Sidy Ndir who started a 13-1 run with a pair of layups and added the first NM State 3-point field goal of the night. The run tied the contest at 47 with 13:48 to play and turned the game around.
 
The teams slugged it out for the next 10 minutes, with NM State holding a 64-62 lead when the Aggies knockout run came up, closing the final 3:09 with a 14-4 run. Pascal Siakam started the run with a tip-in off a missed Ndir 3-pointer, then Ndir threw down the dagger with a baseline drive slam dunk and added a free throw with 1:55 to play.
 
NM State then went 9-of-10 from the foul line down the stretch to seal the game.
 
"I think I'm more relieved than I am happy," said NM State head coach Marvin Menzies. "Tonight was a win and we'll take it. There were a lot of good performances other than the awesome two (Siakam and Ian Baker) and I've always said as long as we get a little help from our friends then we're gonna be okay."
 
Siakam posted his NCAA leading 14th double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds to go with four blocked shots. Baker added 15 points with six assists.
 
Ndir, a 6-2 redshirt freshman guard from Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire, France, scored a season-best 14 points and five rebounds with a steal.
 
Sophomore Tanveer Bhullar, the 7-3 center from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, tallied career-highs with his first-ever double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds.
 
"Sidy's offensive prowess tonight was good for us," said Menzies. "Not just for his scoring, but he was another operational guy who was getting in seams and getting angles to help other people as well. Tanveer had some great looks inside and rebounded like we need him to do. He put himself into position for the double-double."
 
The Aggies dug themselves a hole in as they didn't play well in the first half. The Aggies allowed UVU a season-high 39 first half points, including an 11-4 run to close the half. But Menzies said he needed to calm the team at intermission.
 
"It was just horrible, antsy play," said Menzies. "But we armed them with some changes and made some adjustments. And I thought that calming them down made a big difference."
 
The Aggies, who had turned the ball over five times in the first half, secured ball much better in the second and suffered only eight for the turnovers for the game.
 
NM State outrebounded the Wolverines 46-37, while shooting 41 percent from the floor. While UVU shot 41.7 percent from the floor, the Aggies allowed them to shoot just 33 percent in the second half.
 
The Aggies continue their first WAC road swing of the season by traveling to Phoenix to face Grand Canyon. GCU is 14-2, 1-0 on the season after beating UT Rio Grande Valley 83-63 on Thursday. Tipoff at the GCU Arena is 7 p.m. on Saturday night.