Tuesday night WAC play

New Mexico State dropped a close one to arch-rival New Mexico. Jason Groves has a very detailed writeup:

Aggie men fall to Lobos
Jason Groves
Las Cruces /Sun-News
12/31/2008

LAS CRUCES — Tuesday's Rio Grande Rivalry game mirrored last week's New Mexico victory up until the last 11 minutes.

Rebounding and second-half 3-point shooting were the difference a week ago and the fury of 17,000 fans at The Pit was too much for New Mexico State to come back from, but unlike a week ago, it didn't knock the Aggies out.

Daniel Faris did.

The Lobos' senior center had six points a week ago in the Lobo's 76-62 victory in Albuquerque. On Tuesday in front of 10,285 at the Pan American Center, Faris had 17 points and 11 rebounds in a 68-66 UNM victory...

Go here for the remainder.

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Here is Jason Groves blogging after last night's game.

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Sam Wasson at BleedCrimson.net has a set of photos, a few of which provide visual evidence that either some fouls were not called or there were moments in the game that mimicked a NMSU -NM mixed martial arts match.

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Houston Baptist made Utah State look bad at times last night but the Aggies overcome their sluggishness regardless.

Ags survive horrid start
Shawn Harrison
The Herald Journal
December 31, 2008

Having not trailed in five games — totaling 200 minutes — that streak came to a quick halt Tuesday night for Utah State.

For the second straight night at the Duel in the Desert, sponsored by Gossners Food, Houston Baptist did not play like a winless team. The Huskies gave the Aggies a scare and then some, leading for most of the contest at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

In the end, however, USU righted the ship and pulled away down the stretch for a 94-77 win in front of 8,522 fans.

“That is two nights in a row that they have not looked like a winless team to me,” Aggie head coach Stew Morrill said of Houston Baptist. “They had us out of sorts in the first half. We were back on our heels and not guarding them. They played great and deserve a lot of credit...”

Go here for the remainder.

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Hawaii topped Pepperdine last night. Brian McInnis and Dayton Morinaga provide their reports.