LAS CRUCES, N.M. – A balanced attacked Tuesday night saw the New Mexico State men's basketball team stroll past Northern New Mexico 71-45 at the Pan American Center. It was the second-straight game the Aggies have held an opponent under 50 points.
 
The last time NM State (19-3, 6-0 WAC) held opponents under 50 points in back-to-back games occurred in league play during the 2014-15 season. NM State first held Utah Valley (Jan. 24) to 44 points before keeping the former Texas-Pan American team (Jan. 31) – now UT Rio Grande Valley – to 48 points.
 
"It was great, these types of games give us the opportunity to play different guys," Aggie head coach Chris Jans remarked when asked about being able to play more players than usual. "We played a little bit of a zone and we are trying to freshen up on that little bit. We tried to even the minutes out the best we could and especially when we got the lead."
 
The Aggies got off to a slow start and at one point, trailed NNMC 10-7, before slowly picking its pace up. That moment occurred with 6:36 left in the first half and the game tied at 21-21. After the Eagles (11-12, 4-0 AII) knotted things up, New Mexico State reeled off 18-straight points to end the half to take a 39-21 lead into the locker room.
 
New Mexico State held serve in the second half and kept its lead in the 20s the rest of the game, including its largest lead of the game with 8:38 left to play on Johnny McCants second of two free-throws.
 
All available players for NM State on Tuesday saw action on the floor with 10 of those 11 players scoring at least two points.
 

Ayyyyyy @mccantsjohnny23 with the vicious jam and #SCTop10 play! #bodybag ?? #AggieUp pic.twitter.com/41pGkKop5I

— NM State MBB (@NMStateMBB) January 31, 2018

Jemerrio Jones led all players with 14 points and 16 rebounds for his 13th double-double of the year on top of his four assists, four steals and three blocks. Shunn Buchanan, who made his fourth start of the season, wrapped up with seven points, six assists and five rebounds.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
New Mexico State finished with a 38-12 edge against the Eagles in the paint…the Aggies forced 20 NNMC turnovers, the first time since turning Prairie View A&M over 24 times on Dec. 3 of this season…the eight blocks tonight was just the second time NM State has denied eight shots in a single-game since doing it versus Illinois at the United Center on Dec. 17…the 10 steals by NM State is just the second time this year NM State has reached double-figures in steals as a team, the only other time was against PVAM (11) this season.
 
SPECIAL SURPRISE
At the under-eight media timeout, New Mexico State Athletics teamed up with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of New Mexico and surprised Kayla Maki with her wish. 
 

We had a special surprise for Kayla Maki at tonight's @NMStateMBB game as @MakeAWishNM granted Kayla her wish to meet her favorite Princesses at @Disneyland!! ??????#AggieUp #MakeAWishNM #WhenYouWishUponAStar ?? pic.twitter.com/9N7tUmnFbd

— NM State Aggies (@NMStateAggies) January 31, 2018

UP NEXT
New Mexico State remains at home for a 4 p.m. (MT) tilt against UT Rio Grande Valley on Saturday, Feb. 3. Adam Young (@youngpbp) will have the call while Rus Bradburd serves as the analyst on the broadcast.