PHOENIX – After another thrilling finish Thursday night, the New Mexico State men's basketball team must turn its focus to Grand Canyon – who it'll face Saturday night in a sold-out game on ESPN3 at GCU Arena as it goes for its ninth-straight win.
 
Barry Buetel will have the call while Scott Williams serves as the analyst and Kate Longworth reporting from the sideline on the ESPN3 broadcast.
 
WHERE TO WATCH
Aggie fans can catch Saturday's much anticipated game on ESPN3 and stream it on their mobile or tablet device with the WatchESPN app in the iTunes App Store or on Google Play.
 
GET CONNECTED
Get up to the minute information and news about the NM State men's basketball team all season long on Twitter and Instagram by following @NMStateMBB and on Facebook at FB.com/NMStateMBB.
 
LISTEN UP!
Aggie fans that can't make it to Saturday's game can catch the game by listening to NM State Athletics/US Bank Hall of Famer Jack Nixon on 99.5 Zia Country and affiliate stations on the Aggie Sports Network listed below or via TuneIn.
 

Alamogordo	103.7 FM KNMZ
Albuquerque	1150 AM KNMM
Carlsbad	1240 AM KAMQ
El Paso	1380 AM KHEY
Gallup	1230 AM, 94.9 FM KYVA
Las Vegas	107.1 FM KMDS

 
IN THE NATION
Through games on Feb. 7, NM State is ranked 7th in the country rebounding margin (8.5) and its offensive rebounds per game (13.43) checks in at No. 17 in the nation while its NET ranking of 61 is best amongst WAC teams. The Aggies are just outside the top-25 in scoring margin (11.3), checking in at No. 30 while its .826 winning-percentage is tied for 15th in the nation.
 
CHECKING IN ON THE LOPES
NM State leads the all-time series 11-2 against Grand Canyon but has gone 1-2 in Phoenix the last three seasons and 2-2 overall on the road. The Aggies won last season at GCU Arena 70-59 late the second-half and defeated the Lopes 77-75 on a half-court heave from Johnny McCants as time expired in Las Cruces on Jan. 10.
 
GCU enters the game on Saturday 14-8 overall and 7-2 in league play after dropping its first game at home this season to UT Rio Grande Valley Thursday night 72-69. The Lopes are also playing a man down after Gerard Martin was ruled out for the remainder of the season with an ACL tear earlier this week.
 
Big man Alessandro Lever leads the Lopes in scoring with 12.7 points per game and 4.0 boards per game. Carlos Johnson has been on a tear since WAC play started, averaging 15.7 points and 4.2 boards through nine games while owning an overall average of 12.6 points and 4.1 rebounds. Damari Milstead rounds out the list of double-digit scorers for GCU with 11.1 points per game and 3.4 assists. Trey Drechsel paces the team on the boards with 5.2 rebounds per game while Michael Finke is right behind him with 4.6 boards per game.
 
Like, Johnson, Milstead is scoring a bit more in league play with 13.3 points per game and 3.8 assists per game. Meanwhile, Drechsel is averaging a team-best 7.7 rebounds.
 
LAST TIME OUT
NM State needed late-game heroics once again this past Thursday, and this time it was Trevelin Queen who heeded the call by drilling a 3-pointer with time expiring in overtime against CSU Bakersfield – which gave the Aggies the 71-70 victory on the road.
 
That victory was thanks in part to New Mexico State bearing down and erased a nine-point (62-53) CSUB lead with 1:09 left to play to send the game into overtime.
 
NM State's offense blitzed CSU Bakersfield in the opening frame to take a 23-6 lead with 6:46 left in the first-half after Clayton Henry's second 3-pointer of the half. However, the Runners battled back and got within 26-20 of the Aggies at the half.
 
CSUB took over the lead with 11:32 left to play after Justin Edler-Davis completed the and-1 opportunity out of the media break, giving the Runners the 39-38 lead. They would not relinquish that lead and pushed the Aggie deficit to as much as 10 (59-49) with 2:46 remaining before NM State came roaring back.
 
Queen tied for a team-high 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point land with four boards. Terrell Brown, who made the game-winning pass to Queen, scored four of his 13 points in overtime – all at the free-throw line – finished with 13 points as well.
 
Johnny McCants was also clutch at the line for NM State late in the game, finishing with 10 points and eight boards while AJ Harris chipped in with 10 points of his own with four steals and three assists. Eli Chuha added seven points, 11 rebounds and four assists while Henry and Mohamed Thiam had eight points apiece.
 
UP NEXT
NM State will now return home to the Pan American Center for a four-game homestand beginning next Thursday against Utah Valley on Valentine's Day before playing host to Seattle U (Feb. 16) for its annual Pack the Pan Am game.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
NM State remains at home the following week, entertaining Texas A&M – International on Tuesday, Feb. 19, to complete the non-conference slate and celebrate 3.0 Night before resuming league action against UT Rio Grande Valley on Saturday, Feb. 23, at 4 p.m. (MT).