Aggies take gift

New Mexico State honors UH coach Wallace before beating his 'Bows with aggressive play

LAS CRUCES, N.M. » Prior to last night's Western Athletic Conference opener in the Pan American Center, New Mexico State University honored Hawaii coach Riley Wallace for his 20 years coaching in the league with a gift basket, video tribute and a lei made of red chilis.

NMSU    Hawaii 92 86 Next Up Tomorrow, at LaTech

When the game started, Wallace's Rainbow Warriors decided it was their turn to be in the giving mood. The Aggies benefited from 23 Rainbow Warrior turnovers and 35 chances from the free-throw line (Hawaii shot just 12) and held off Wallace's squad with a 92-86 win, the Aggies' 10th straight victory.

"It was pretty much the same as last year here," Wallace said, referring to the 87-84 NMSU victory Jan. 14, 2006, in Las Cruces. "We had a 12-point lead in the second half last year and they had a spurt that cut it down and ended up beating us. Same thing this time. I thought we had pretty good control. We got the lead, then we just didn't take care of the ball."

The turnovers and fast-paced tempo of the second half (NMSU shot 69 percent and scored 58 second-half points) overpowered a strong shooting night for Matt Lojeski who scored a game-high 22 points on 9-for-15 shooting and 3-for-6 shooting from behind the arc.

"He's a shooter," NMSU head coach Reggie Theus said. "In terms of coming off picks and in terms of being crafty on the floor, he's a heck of a basketball player. It's a lost art what he can do. Not many guys on any level can come off the screen and come off the pick and catch and shoot like he does."

But what Lojeski couldn't do last night was provide an answer for the Aggies' big men and up-tempo, aggressive style of play in the second half.

"They became the aggressors in the second half," Lojeski said. "... I think we lost our heads there for about 5 minutes or so in the second half and you need to play 40 minutes to win on the road."

The loss drops Hawaii to 9-5 and 0-1 in WAC play. NMSU is 11-3 and 1-0.

The spurt that doomed Hawaii came when shot-blocking forward Ahmet Gueye went to the bench with his fourth foul with 15:35 remaining. Hawaii, which had just used a 6-0 run to take a 47-42 advantage, was rendered helpless in the paint for the rest of the game.

The Aggies big men scored 24 points in the next 9:03 to seize control. In that stretch, 7-foot center Martin Iti scored eight of his 14 points, including three powerful dunks that helped swing the momentum.

"I think it was Iti who got a big-time dunk and it got the crowd into it, it got their emotions fired up and then instead of playing our game, it got us fired up and got us in a hurry," Wallace said.

The free-throw discrepancy, both teams agreed, had more to do with the Aggies' style of play than a home-court advantage.

"Thirty-five free throws and 12 free throws," Lojeski said, shaking his head in the postgame press conference while staring at the box score. "That sums it up right there."

Fellow guard Matt Gibson, who had 16 points and seven rebounds, interjected: "And that's not the referees. That's being aggressive."

Six Aggies scored in double figures, led by Justin Hawkins' 18. In addition to Lojeski and Gibson, Riley Luettgerodt and Bobby Nash each scored in double digits and both did their damage in the second half. Luettgerodt scored 14 of his 16 points in the final 20 minutes, and Nash scored all 11 of his points after the break.

The stat sheet showed Hawaii was better down low than NMSU, outrebounding the Aggies, 38-31, and outscoring them 38-26 in the paint. Three Rainbow Warriors fouled out -- Gueye, Gibson and P.J. Owsley -- and NMSU made 25 of their 35 free throws on the night.

"Their bigs just kicked our bigs and when you get that many guys in foul trouble, that's the difference in the ball game," Wallace said.

Notes: Reserve forward Todd Follmer left the team before the tip-off to attend to an undisclosed family matter, a UH spokesman said. ... Lojeski was 1-for-1 from the free-throw line, extending his consecutive free-throws-made streak to 14 over the last four games. ... The loss was Hawaii's second in 12 games when Lojeski scores 20 or more points.

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