Aggies advance to WAC championship game
The NMSU Aggies (23-10) will go for their third WAC tournament championship title in four years after defeating Texas State (12-22) in the WAC semi-final on Friday night, 74-65.
Aggie Sim Bhullar led NMSU with 14 points and 10 rebounds in his double-double effort on the night.
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Not to be outdone, Aggie Renaldo Dixon chipped in 13 points followed by K.C. Ross-Miller with 12.
The Aggies will now face the winner of the semifinal game with the winner receiving an NCAA tournament berth representing the WAC. The semi-final game will be between Texas-Arlington, the fourth-seed, and UT-San Antonio, the ninth-seed.
The bench play from the Aggies was key to a victory going 8 of 17 (47.0%) from the floor adding 22 points.
The Aggies never trailed in this game and had to fight off a pesky Bobcat team throughout the night. The Aggies led, 41-22 at halftime.
The Aggies shot a hot 53.6% from the floor to Texas State's lukewarm 38.5%. Texas State's Joel Wright led all scores on the night with 17 points. Deonte Jones finished with 16 and Matt Staff added 13.
Second half scoring was tied with both teams scoring 33 points. Percentage-wise, NMSU out-shot Texas State, 49.9% to 31.0%. The difference came from the free throw line where NMSU once again struggled making 12 of 27 (57.1%).
Coach Menzies went a total of 9 players deep tonight with seldom used forward, B.J. West making a rare appearance. West only played 2 minutes scoring 2 points on two free throws.
Game time for the 2013 WAC tournament championship game is slated for 8:00pm DST, live from The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, NV. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN.
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