Jahmar Young drained a leaning 15-foot jumper with 3.8 seconds left to play to give the Aggies an 80-79 victory over 2-seed and tournament host Nevada on Friday night. The Aggies survived a career night from Nevada's Luke Babbitt who finished with 33 points and eight rebounds and was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line.

The Aggies trailed early as the Wolf Pack jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead less two minutes into the game. New Mexico State would cut the lead to 7-5 after a Wendell McKines layup and a Jonathan Gibson three pointer. The two teams would take their first lead after Troy Gillenwater hit a pair of free throws with 16:09 left to play in the first half.

Nevada would go on a 5-0 run to retake the lead 16-11 before the Aggies answered with a 6-0 run to regain the lead at 17-16 with 12:38 left to play in the half. With the Aggies trailing 28-27 with 5:38 left in the first half, the Aggies would go on a 7-0 run sparked by five quick points from Troy Gillenwater who hit a pair of free throws with 5:24 left in the half and then followed it up with a three pointer on the Aggies' next possession. Tyrone Watson would add a layup to cap the 7-0 run prompting the Wolf Pack to call a 30-second timeout. Out of the timeout the Wolf Pack struck quickly to cut the lead back to one point as Luke Babbitt answered the Aggies' run with a personal 7-0 run on a jumper with 3:31 left in the half followed by a three pointer with 3:05 left to play in the half and capped with another jumper with 2:28 left in the half to give the Wolf Pack a 35-34 lead. Jahmar Young would give the Aggies the lead back hitting a three pointer with 2:11. Joey Shaw answered with a tip-in to tie the game at 37 with 1:53 left in the half. After a pair of Hernst Laroche free throws put the Aggies up by two points at 39-37, Troy Gillenwater would hit a three pointer with 16 seconds left before halftime. However, Armon Johnson would bury a three with four seconds left to play in the half to send the game into the break with the Aggies leading just 42-40.  Continue Reading This Post >>

The Aggie men's basketball team defeated San Jose State last night 80-69. The Aggies held the league's second best three point shooting team to just 5-of-17 (29.4 percent) from beyond the three point arc. They also held the league's leading scorer, Adrian Oliver, in check. Oliver finished with 23 points, right around his season average, however, it was a quiet 23 points. He didn't really hit any run sparking shots and he had to work for most of those points. The Aggies did well on the boards most of the night as well. They outrebounded San Jose State 38-25 and limited SJSU to just eight offensive rebounds.

Jonathan Gibson had a very good night as he led the team with 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting. He also hit 4-of-7 three pointers. Jahmar Young had an outstanding all around game as he finished with 16 points, eight in each half, four rebounds, six assists and a steal.

The Aggies will meet Nevada in the second semifinal tonight at 9:00 p.m. MT. The Wolf Pack dismantled Idaho 87-71 to set up the meeting between the two rivals. The Aggies are hoping that history will repeat itself tonight. During the 2007-2008 season the Aggies were swept by the Wolf Pack during the regular season in eerily similar fashion to this season. Nevada won 87-78 in Las Cruces in a game whose final score was much closer than the actual game was. The Pack then won 98-85 in Reno later in the season (though the Aggies were never really in that game in '07-'08 wheres this year's game in Reno was up for grabs until late).

The two met in the semifinal round under the same circumstances as this season, Nevada as the 2-seed, New Mexico State as the 3-seed. The Aggies prevailed that night and advanced to the championship game (which is where the Aggies hope history stops repeating itself as they fell in the epic triple overtime game to 4-seed Boise State).

Tonight's game will be televised on ESPN2 at 9:00 p.m. MT. Streaming audio is also available via Aggie Access (subscription required). Streaming video will also be available via ESPN360.com.

The Aggie baseball team kicks off a three game series with Georgia State tonight. The Aggies are coming off a midweek split with No. 22 New Mexico. Georgia State comes into Presley Askew off a 2009 season in which they were an NCAA Regional participant. Georgia State is 6-6 on the season and coming off a seven game homestand in which they went 6-1 and averaged a school record 22 runs per game.

There could be plenty of offensive fireworks in this series as two quality teams do battle. Today's game is scheduled for a 6:05 p.m. start time. Streaming video will be available via Aggie Access (subscription required).

The Aggie softball team is in Clearwater, FL for the USF UnderArmour Showcase. Day one has been rained out. The Aggies were scheduled to face Long Island (8-8) and Florida Gulf Coast (6-6) today.

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The quarterfinals of the WAC tournament saw form hold as all four top seeds advanced to the semifinal round. The only team that had any trouble with their opponent was Louisiana Tech. After jumping out to an early 17-4 lead, the Bulldogs were only up by one at halftime at 33-32. Fresno State actually took a lead on La. Tech with 13:37 left to play but in the end Louisiana Tech was just too much for Fresno State.

The other three quarterfinal matchups had no suspense as each higher seed won by at least 17 points. Utah State blew away Boise State 84-60 after a competitive first half which saw the Broncos only down by five. The host team Nevada made quick work of Idaho. The Pack led by 13 at the break and stretched their lead to as many as 21 points before settling for the 16-point 87-71 win. New Mexico State also had a competitive first half with San Jose State but a 10-0 run in the latter stages of the first half sent the Aggies into halftime with an eight point lead which would quickly swell to over 17 points. The Aggies would go on to win by 21 points, 80-69, and held the league's second best three point shooting team to a paltry 29.4 percent from beyond the arc.

Semifinals  Continue Reading This Post >>

The New Mexico State men's basketball team defeated San Jose State 90-69 to advance to the semifinal round of the 2010 WAC Tournament where they'll face 2-seed and tournament host Nevada.

The Aggies were paced by 22 points from senior Jonathan Gibson. Gibson shot 8-of-14 from the field and hit 4-of-7 three point attempts. He also grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists and had one steal. San Jose State was paced by Adrian Oliver who scored a game-high 23 points.

The Aggies jumped out to a quick 12-4 lead and led 18-11 with 13:06 left in the first half. The Spartans would go on a 12-5 run to tie the game at 23 with 8:04 left in the half and then took the lead at 25-23 with 7:30 to go in the half on a CJ Webster layup.  Continue Reading This Post >>

The Aggie men's basketball team kicks off their drive for the WAC Tournament title and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies play in the final game of the day at 9:30 p.m. MT. The 3-seed Aggies take on the 6-seed San Jose State. We'll be honest. This game scares us. Not just because the two teams split the regular season. Not just because the WAC Tournament is one-and-done and there is added pressure there. But if you read our Quarterfinal Preview, you'd also know that San Jose State's Adrian Oliver, who was left off the preseason All-WAC team, destroyed the rest of the league this season. Oliver has the propensity to show up in big games. There have been a total of 20 30-plus point performances in the league this season. Oliver owns EIGHT! That's twice as many as Jahmar Young AND Jonathan Gibson combined. Not to mention that the last time these two teams hooked up, Robert Owens scored a career-high 29 points. Do we think the Aggies will win? Yes. We still think the Aggies are the better team, but if Adrian Oliver gets hot, the Aggies will have their hands full.

The Spartans are the second best three point shooting team in conference play at 39.9 percent but the Aggies are right behind them at 38.4 percent. The Aggies have the third best three point shooting defense at 34.4 percent. San Jose State is dead last in the league giving up 39.6 percent from beyond the arc. This will probably be the highest scoring game of the day and the winner could possibly reach triple-digits. It will definitely be a game worth staying up late for.

The game will be streamed on WAC.tv and streaming audio can be heard via Aggie Access (subscription required). The game can also be heard on the radio on the Aggie Sports Network across New Mexico.

The Aggie women's basketball team exited the WAC Tournament after a 75-63 loss to 4-seed Idaho. The Aggies jumped out to a 9-2 lead but were behind by two at halftime. The Aggies led just once in the second half, at 44-43, and just could not get over the hump in the game. Every single time the Aggies hit a big three point shot, it was answered on the other end by Idaho. The key sequence in the game came between the 4:35 mark and the 2:17 mark of the second half. Danisha Corbett hit a three to get the Aggies to within one but Idaho answered with a three by Charlotte Otero to go back up by four. Idaho's Bianca Cheever added another three to put Idaho back up by seven then Jasmine Lowe buried a three to cut the lead back to four. The Aggies called a quick 30 second timeout and out of the timeout, Charlotte Otero drove a dagger through the Aggies' heart with another three. Otero only scored six points in the game but her two three pointers in that two minute span just killed the Aggies.

When a team is in a conference tournament or in any other big game, it's often a role player that unexpectedly comes up big. For Idaho that player was Shaena Kuehu. Kuehu scored a season high 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Kuehu only averages 10.4 points per game in league play but score over twice that many in yesterday's game.

The Aggies are now left to hope that they'll get a postseason invitation from either the WNIT (unlikely) or the new 16-team single elimination Women's Basketball Invitational. According to a post from Coach Spence on his Facebook page, the WBI is interested in the Aggies. The school really needs to support the team and get them into the postseason. The program has only been to the postseason three times in the 35 year history of the program. With the majority of the team returning next season it would be a valuable experience for the team this season and hopefully build some momentum heading into next season.

If you need any proof of what a postseason appearance can do for a team, just look a little bit to the south. UTEP (yes, we hate to use a rival as an example but oh well) finished last season at 19-12 (including a similar first round loss in the conference tournament) but the school backed them and they accepted a bid to the CBI (which is the men's equivalent of the WBI tournament the Aggies are hoping to be in this year). The Miners ended up playing all the way into the championship game and this season they have turned that added experience (think about all the extra practice time the team gets in postseason play) into a 24-5 record, a Top 25 ranking, a regular season conference championship and an almost certain bid into the NCAA tournament.

Similarly, New Mexico's women's basketball team made the postseason WNIT (before there were automatic bids into the WNIT) about 10 years ago, ended up making it all the way to New York for the championship (we can't recall if they won or lost the title) but that provided a springboard for the program and they have been a perennial NCAA Tournament participant ever since.

All it takes is one postseason appearance.

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It's finally here, do or die time. The WAC tournament will begin on Thursday, March 11 for the eight teams who earned their way in. All eight teams feel like they have a shot to win the whole enchilada but in reality there are probably only five teams that have a chance. History is also not on four teams' side as only once since the 1993-1994 season has a team seeded lower than 4th won the conference tournament as 5-seed Hawai'i pulled off the feat in the 2001 WAC Tournament. Utah State is the favorite as they ran roughshod over the WAC for a second straight season. Nevada is also a favorite but their lack of depth and needing to win three games in four days will be something to keep an eye on. New Mexico State is the league's second highest scoring team and perhaps most physically talented team, however, they are also the league's worst scoring defense having given up at least 80 points in seven of their 16 conference games. Louisiana Tech was strong in the first half of the season but faltered down the stretch. They could get hot and run the table as well as they have wins over every WAC team except New Mexico State (whom they would not potentially face until the championship game). San Jose State is the darkhorse in the equation. They boast the league's leading scorer in Adrian Oliver and they have the pieces in place to make a run. However, they too have fallen on tough times losing three of the final four conference games. Unfortunately for them their path to the title game goes through New Mexico State and potentially top seeded Utah State and that's even before playing in the title game.

There is one team missing from the conference tournament and that is the University of Hawai'i. Not only did Hawai'i not play its way into the WAC tournament last week losing twice on the road, they played their coach out of a job. The University of Hawai'i announced on Monday that head coach Bob Nash would not be returning next season. The Warriors have fallen on tough times since winning the conference tournament in back-to-back seasons to start the new century. The Warriors won in 2001 and again in 2002 earning the automatic bid and then were NIT bound in 2003 and 2004 but have gone 85-93 in their past five seasons combined after amassing an 85-45 record from the 2000-2001 season through the 2003-2004 season.

Final Standings (conference tournament seeding order)
1) Utah State, 25-6 (14-2)
2) Nevada 19-11 (11-5)
3) New Mexico State, 19-11 (11-5)
4) Louisiana Tech, 22-9 (9-7)
5) Fresno State, 15-17 (6-10)
6) San Jose State 14-16 (6-10)
7) Idaho, 15-15 (6-10)
8) Boise State, 15-16 (5-11)
OUT) Hawai'i, 10-18 (3-13)

Quarterfinal Matchups  Continue Reading This Post >>