ST. GEORGE, Utah – Some might say the Aggies are in a bit of a rough stretch. Others may consider that to be an understatement as the seven-time WAC Regular Season Champion Aggies (7-13, 0-8 WAC) fell 89-76 to Utah Tech (10-10, 2-5 WAC) on Saturday night in Burns Arena – pushing their losing streak to eight in a row.
Anthony Roy was the Aggies' sharpest shooter in St. George as he finished with 20 points off the bench to lead all NM State scorers. Meanwhile, Xaver Pinson (15),
Doctor Bradley (12) and
Deshawndre Washington (11) all reached double figures. Pinson and
Issa Muhammad paced the Aggies in rebounds with five a piece.
For the Trailblazers, sophomore Noa Gonsalves' career night fueled Utah Tech's highest-scoring effort of WAC play as he tallied 24 points, including going 5-9 from three. Fellow starting guard, Isaiah Pope, also reached the 20-point threshold as he finished with 23 points while Trailblazer leading scorer Cameron Gooden scored 17 points off the bench.
FIRST HALF
- NM State was able to get on the board first as Issa Muhammad won the opening tip then trekked down the court to convert a layup off a pick-and-roll play featuring the big man and Xavier Pinson. Unfortunately, this lead that the Aggies held in the infantile stage of the game would be the only time they would lead as they finished the game ahead on the scoreboard for just 19 seconds to mark the fourth time in WAC play that they led for less than a minute of competition.
- To that point, Utah Tech would quickly take control, scoring 12 of the next 14 points to take an eight-point lead less than five minutes into the contest.
- The Aggies would get solid production off the bench from sophomore guard Anthony Roy who was able to score a dozen of the Aggies' 36 first-half points to lead the way in the first 20 minutes. Included in those 12 were a pair of threes and a strong two-handed dunk off a baseline drive.
- After giving up 15 three-pointers in the first half of their last outing, the Aggies were victims of yet another hot-shooting start as Utah Tech knocked down five of its first eight attempts from deep to help develop a 14-point lead with 3:50 remaining in the first period.
- NM State was able to show some semblance of life to close the half as Anthony Roy knocked down a three with 39 seconds left before transition pressure created by Kyle Feit led to a putback layup for Doctor Bradley to bring the Aggies within 10 points at the break.
SECOND HALF
- Following a first half in which he went 3-4 from beyond the arc, Utah Tech's Noa Gonsalves opened the second period with his fourth triple to push the Trailblazer lead back to 13 on the first possession of the period. Gonsalves would finish the game with a career-high and game-high 24 points.
- The Aggies' first points of the second period came when James Beck was able to jump into a passing lane to steal a pass near half court before finding himself ahead of the pack to turn in his third dunk of the season at the 18:24 mark. Converting off of turnovers was one area the Aggies excelled in as they scored 20 points from 18 turnovers while the Trailblazers only score eight points from the 14 turnovers they forced.
- Minutes later, Anthony Roy's third three-pointer of the evening pulled the Aggies to within 12, however, the hosts were then able to string together a 14-4 run to claim their largest lead of the game (22) with 9:16 left to play. During that stretch, Utah Tech's Cameron Gooden, who had missed the previous five Utah Tech games, score 10 points. Gooden consistently displayed how important he is to his ball club as Utah Tech lost all five games he was not a part of.
- Among the many issues the Aggies faced, they struggled to play defense without hearing a whistle as they tallied a season-high 31 fouls. In total, three Aggies (Beck, Gordon and Bradley) reached the foul limit while a fourth (Issa Muhammad) also exited the contest early due to an injury.
- For the third time this season and second time in as many games, the Aggies' opponent shot better than 50% from the field as the Traiblazers' used a 64% shooting first half to help propel them to a percentage of 52 for the game while earning a 13-point win over the Aggies.
NUMBERS OF NOTE
- Anthony Roy's night was one to note as he finished with 20 points on 8-12 from the field and 4-5 from three-point land to mark his third 20-point effort of the season and first since Nov. 30 when he notched 23 against UTEP.
- Xavier Pinson continues to score consistently as he poured in 15 points to tally his fourth straight game with 10-plus points and his eighth time reaching double digits in the last nine outings.
- After sitting out one game due to a minor injury, Doctor Bradley returned to the court and showed no signs of being hobbled as he scored 12 points in just 12 minutes while going 5-6 from the field and knocking down a pair of free throws.
- Deshawndre Washington reached a new career-high in free throw attempts (10) while equaling a career-high in makes with seven on his way to scoring double figures for the second consecutive game.
- The Aggies finished one steal shy of their season-high as they came up with 12 steals on Saturday night – led by Pinson who nabbed three steals while playing a team-high 34 minutes.
++NM State++
