While I would have liked to have gone to this game, I
decided against it. I didn’t want to ask for tickets again from work and wasn’t
sure if you had to buy tickets in advance to get into the $5 section. It was also debatable if I’d have anyone to
go with. I was tempted to go to see Aggie Tennis on Saturday. The game was at 2:00 and admission was
free. This was likely the only time
they’d have matches scheduled in the afternoon on a weekend that wouldn’t
conflict with some other event this year.
Unfortunately, I woke up at noon.
That has a way of driving the initiative out of a person. Admittedly, the only reason I wanted to go
was to see Eli Arnaudova, who is
likely the best-looking female athlete at NMSU.
That’s saying something, given that there are quite a few good-looking
girls playing for the Aggies. Other than
sitting there and admiring her, I would have at least had a new live Aggie
sports experience to write about.
First Half
Instead, I’ll be writing about sitting at home watching the
basketball game on TV. That was another
reason to not bother going. Does the
university know that some of their home games in basketball and football are on
over-the-air television? Some more games
are even on cable. This game with the
Aggies versus the UTRGV Vaqueros was
joined in progress. The ACC game on
before it took 30 minutes to play out the last two minutes. (That’s what actually happened, not a
joke.)
I listened to Jack
Nixon and the radio call until the game came on TV. I could hear Coach Jans screaming at the top of his lungs over Jack’s mic on the
sidelines. The Aggies were committing
fouls and not playing well in general. It
was 6-0 Vaqueros early. The TV coverage
came on and I switched to that. (Sorry,
Jack.) Adam Young’s color commentator, Coach Rus Bradburd, said that Coach Jans was even yelling at the cheerleaders
for not being spirited enough. Well, it
worked. The Aggies came back to
life. There was an Aggie fast break and
a no-look pass for a basket followed by Sidy
N’Dir making a block on a fast break on the other end. (I’m kind of glad I wasn’t there in terms of
keeping a scorecard. Events were going
too fast for me to write anything down.)
At the media timeout, it was 11-8 Vaqueros with about 15
minutes left. The Aggies’ leading
scorer, Zach Lofton, was looking a
bit rusty shooting from being off earlier this week against Northern NM. Coach Rus was really enjoying watching Jemerrio Jones’ passing. He called his distribution,
“Democratic.” “He may pass it to us at
some point,” he added. The Vaqueros went
to a full court press. Johnny McCants beat it and jammed it
in, making it 19 all at the 10 minute mark.
Oh, ho. This was
good. Jemerrio made a bounce pass
between the legs of a defender to Eli
Chuha for a layup to give the Aggies a 21-19 lead. Put that one in the highlight reel. The Aggies built on their lead for the next
couple of minutes. Joe Garza came in for a spell.
There was a camera shot of Coach Jans.
Adam liked his new crimson jacket with a Pete logo on the lapel. It was cool, if you’re a coach. I’m not running out to buy one. (Still waiting for one of those Aggie band hockey
sweaters.)
Four minutes left, Zach got it to McCants for his eighth
point of the half and a 32-25 lead. Then
McCants got block at the other end. Zach
kept the next shot for himself and put in a three, 35-25. The Vaqueros were still going with a full
court press. They stripped Sidy at
mid-court, but he ran back and blocked the layup. Inside of a minute left, Zach got a steal, a
layup, and converted on the foul shot for his fourteenth point. I thought I said he was “rusty” earlier? Jemerrio was in double digits in rebounds at
13. It was 42-30 Aggies at the half.
Second Half
The little Razzle
Dazzle Cheerleaders were out entertaining for halftime. Being home, I was able to easily get
something to eat for dinner. Hmm, I
still want to try one of those Aggie burgers though. Sidy twisted his ankle early on. I think I saw him come back in later. The Aggies started losing some steam and
composure in general. The Vaqueros made
a comeback and got it within four on a quick layup at 44-40 within the first
five minutes.
The Aggies woke up during the media timeout and made it
rain. Zach hit a deep three. Keyon
Jones hit a three. Another timeout,
but the Aggies were still on a roll.
Keyon hit another three, then Zach put in another one. Within five minutes, the Aggies had gone on a
12-0 run and boosted the score to 59-42.
Zach wasn’t done. He faked out a
defender so bad, he fell down, or as Coach Rus put it, “He broke his
ankles.” Zach then popped another long
three his prone form. Zach was wearing a
big smile as he skipped merrily back down court. 66-45 Aggies with eight minutes left.
The rout was on. Zach
hit another three a couple minutes later.
I may have to put in a macro to save myself the trouble of writing that
out several times for each Aggie game.
The camera showed the bench guys loving the fireworks. With four minutes left, the Vaqueros got
their last highlight with a steal and a layup.
Gabe Hadley came in a put in
a three right after, 78-61.
The Vaqueros couldn’t take anymore of the Zach Show. As he drove the lane in traffic for a layup,
he got hit four separate times by the defenders. The refs stopped play to look at the carnage,
so we all got several slow-motion replays.
The camera caught Shunn Buchcanan
on the bench grooving to Taylor Swift’s Look
What You Made Me Do. The team will
probably punish him for that. The refs
decided to hand out a foul and a technical, which awarded Zach four free
throws. With under two minutes, Zach
appeared to get cramped up. He fouled a
Vaquero player to get a stoppage to come out.
That smartly dressed blonde woman I’d seen at the Utah Valley game worked on him on a table on the sidelines. He didn’t come back in. There wasn’t much need left for him to do, as
he’d done plenty this evening.
Our final was Aggies
90, Vaqueros 67. During the
handshaking, the opposing coach pulled Zach aside and talked into his ear. I’m guessing he was telling him something
encouraging. Zach Lofton finished with 34 points. Jemerrio Jones finished with
20 rebounds. The team is now an
undefeated 7-0 in the WAC. In the
postgame interview, Adam asked Coach Jans about his new jacket. He said if they hadn’t won, he would have
burned it. I saw a few fans wearing the
new team caricature shirt, based on the poster. I saw that advertised on the team
Twitter. I sent out an e-mail about it
to someone at work, who had threatened to steal my poster. Attendance was listed at over 5000, which
doesn’t seem too bad. Coach Rus said,
“Watching this team is the best value in entertainment in the country.” Hard to disagree.
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