New Mexico State downs Western Michigan in OT

Submitted by Dave Geringer
Phone: (907) 474-7778
11/20/04

Josh Jenkins’ three-pointer gave New Mexico State the lead for good and the Aggies held on to defeat Western Michigan, 65-61 in overtime in a first round game at the 2004 BP Top of the World Classic at the Carlson Center Friday evening.

Jenkins’ trey erased a two-point Bronco advantage and gave NMSU a 56-55 lead with 2:19 remaining. Mike Mitchell’s jumper with 53 seconds left allowed NMSU to increase their advantage to 58-55, and NMSU connected on seven free throws down the stretch to hold off WMU.

New Mexico State held the Broncos to just 25 per cent from the field in the first half in taking a 27-22 lead. NMSU led for entire second half, until the Broncos’ Levi Rost drilled a three-pointer with 29 seconds remaining to tie the score and send the game into overtime.

Rost led all scorers with 17 points. Ben Reed had 15 for the Broncos, and Brian Snider added 13. Jenkins led a balanced Aggie attack with 14 points. Trevor Lawrence added 12 points, Mitchell added 11 and Byron Davis contributed 10.

Joe Reitz had eight rebounds and Rost had seven as WMU outrebounded the Aggies, 46-35. But NMSU converted 17 of 23 free throws to the Broncos’ three of five, and Reed fouled out, while Rost and Reitz finished with four fouls apiece.

"I told our team to play hard for the last five minutes, and they did,"? said NMSU Interim Head Coach Tony Stubblefield, who is filling in for Head Coach Lou Henson while Henson recovers from an illness. "Everything we’ve done is the same as if Coach Henson had been here. This is Coach Henson’s team."?

"We probably had as bad a case of opening game jitters as we’ve had in any game that I’ve ever been a part of,"? said WMU Head Coach Steve Hawkins. "We had some good looks, but we didn’t shoot the ball well. We had some pretty serious foul trouble, and had a poor first half offensively."?

The game was the first of the regular season for each team. The Broncos dropped to 0-1, while NMSU improved to 1-0. The Aggies advance to a winner’s bracket game Saturday at 8 p.m. against Northwestern, while WMU will play Portland in a loser’s bracket game Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.