EDINBURG, Texas – The New Mexico State men's basketball team strolled past host UT Rio Grande Valley Saturday night at the UTRGV Fieldhouse 86-71 in its regular-season finale.
 
The Aggies, winners of 25 games heading into the conference tournament, led by as much as 25 and for 95.8-percent of the game. New Mexico State shared the ball very well, dishing out a season-high 27 assists while knocking down 31 shots.
 
Both teams exchanged baskets early on in the first half, before a layup from Jemerrio Jones gave the Aggies their first double-digit lead of the game, 22-11.
 
An 11-0 run by New Mexico State in the closing minutes of the first half saw it open up the game, 48-27, before a 6-0 run by UTRGV (15-16, 6-8 WAC)) had the Aggies on top 48-33 at the break.

WATCH | Big defensive play from @JoeGarza_14 leads to THIS JAM by @mccantsjohnny23 from @FAMOUS_AMOS12!!! ????#AggieUp pic.twitter.com/VZXUlclueN

— NM State MBB (@NMStateMBB) March 4, 2018

 
NM State had a great start to the second-half, jumping out to a 13-3 run for the 61-36 lead after a steal and dunk by J. Jones. A 9-0 run followed for UTRGV and brought the home team within 65-48 of the Aggies with 11:43 left to play.
 

WATCH | #SuperJJ forces a UTRGV timeout after this steal and DUNK for the 61-36 lead. Aggies on a 13-3 run to open the 2nd half#AggieUp pic.twitter.com/I4O9afaue8

— NM State MBB (@NMStateMBB) March 4, 2018

With its lead below the 20-point mark, back-to-back triples from Keyon Jones and Zach Lofton pushed the Aggie advantage back up to 80-56 with 5:20 remaining on the clock before finishing with 86-71 victory.
 
NM State finished with four players in double-figures for the second-straight game, led by J. Jones with his 18th double-double on the season. The senior wrapped up the regular-season with 18 points and 13 rebounds on a cool 7-of-9 shooting.
 
Lofton picked up his second-career double-double, scoring 17 points on 4-of-8 shooting with 10 rebounds. Johnathon Wilkins added 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting with four assists while AJ Harris chipped in with 15 points of his own while dishing out seven assists with four boards in the win.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
With his two 3-pointers Saturday night, Lofton now has 71 on the season which moves him into a three-way tie with Eric Channing (1998-99) and Jeff McCool (1988-89)…the Aggies dominated the paint against UTRGV 40-24 while beating the Vaqueros 48-35 in the battle of the boards…with his four boards tonight, Eli Chuha now has 495 career-rebounds and needs just five to reach the 500 mark…the Aggie defense held the WAC's leading scorer, Nick Dixon, to just 14 points Saturday night…the senior guard was averaging 21 points heading into Saturday's game...Wilkins' 16 points was also a new career-high for the senior. 
 
UP NEXT
With the regular-season all wrapped up, NM State now turns its focus towards the Western Athletic Conference Tournament where it'll face the No. 8-seed Chicago State on Thursday, March 8, at 7 p.m. (MT) on ESPN3 at Orleans Arena. Mychal Clanton will have the call while Sed Bonner serves as the analyst with Rachel Vigil on the sideline.