LAS CRUCES – The New Mexico State Aggies put four players in double figures and overcame first half sluggishness to maintain their lead in the Western Athletic Conference with a 74-58 victory over CSU Bakersfield Saturday night at the Pan American Center
The Aggies (17-10, 9-1 WAC) used a late first half run and an early second half run to pull away from the Roadrunners (10-16, 5-5 WAC).
“We definitely played well enough to win, but we’ve got to play better basketball,” said NM State coach Marvin Menzies. “We settled down in the second half and we started to focus on our shifts and once we cleaned that up it was good for us.”
NM State was paced by redshirt freshman forward Pascal Siakam, who led all scorers and rebounders with 20 points and seven boards.
Seniors Daniel Mullings and Remi Barry each scored 14 points, as Mullings dished out five assists. Sophomore Ian Baker chipped in 11 points.
Mullings became the sixth Aggie to score 1,600 points in the game, now with 1,602 for his career.
Senior Tshilidzi Nephawe added nine points with five rebounds to reach 712 career rebounds and tie Jim Bostic (1972-75) for 11th on the career rebounding list.
Bakersfield got 11 points from Kregg Jones and nine from Kevin Mays and Javonte Maynor.
The Aggies opened the game with a quick seven-point lead, but struggled over the next seven minutes allowing the Roadrunners (10-16, 5-5 WAC) to erase the advantage and take a six-point lead.
NM State played catch up before taking off with three minutes remaining in the half as Mullings coverted a layup and foul into a 3-point play to start an 11-4 run to send the Aggies to the intermission with a 35-31 advantage.
Then after trading scores in the first two minutes, the Aggies went on a 15-4 run capped by a Siakam slam for a 12-point lead at that point to take control of the contest.
“(Siakam) missed some shots early,” said Menzies. “But once he started to gather and be a little bit more aggressive in his moves he was more effective.”
The Aggies also battled the Runners hard on the boards, trailing by eight in the first half, NM State recovered in the second to be outrebounded by one, 30-29.
NMSU also forced 16 turnovers for CSUB, scoring 24 points on them as the Aggies held their opposition to less than 60 points for the seventh time in the last 10 games.
“We are playing good basketball defensively and offensively as well,” Menzies said.
“We’ve got good players who are playing together that have good energy and I’m happy that we’re starting to see the fruits of our labor from early on in the summer.”
The Aggies got their 27th straight WAC victory at home and extended the longest winning streak in the conference to seven games.
NMSU starts a three-game road stretch, starting Thursday at Utah Valley at 7 p.m.