I had an irritating night at work. I’m only saying this to make an excuse for
taking poor notes for these two games.
The Men and the Women weren’t playing at the same time exactly, but the
games were overlapping, which also made it hard to follow both. I don’t make the schedule. I’d prefer to listen or watch both
separately.
A couple of Aggie pregame items first. Earlier in the week, the Aggie Coach’s Show went an extra half hour going over new football recruits for national signing
day. NMSU managed to steal some recruits
from UTEP and other regional schools. Coach Martin again thanked the
fans. He said it really helped make the
case for the school when he could show video of a full stadium and people
storming the field after a big win.
During the Men’s pregame tonight, Athletic
Director Mario Moccia said that the Men’s big game against Grand Canyon on Saturday wasn’t a
sellout yet, but was set to be their highest revenue game ever.
The Men’s game started first. The Bakersfield
Roadrunners gave the Aggies a rough time in their house last month (1-13-18). That was partly because
of their physical play, but also because the Aggies were finishing their epic
eight-game road trip. I thought that
game was amazing for Roadrunner player Moataz
Aly getting three goaltending calls.
I was glad to hear Sidy N’Dir
was back playing for the Aggies for this game.
He’d gotten pretty roughed up in the last game.
Once again, the Aggies came out cold against the
Roadrunners. They could not hit any
three’s. As Jack Nixon reported Coach
Jans saying on the sidelines to a player, “You’re open because they don’t
think you can hit it.” Still, the Aggies
were keeping it close at 14-14 inside of ten minutes. The Aggies started to get the upper hand as
the half went on. I kept getting busier
at work and couldn’t take many notes. AJ Harris hit Jemerrio Jones for a jam. Joe Garza came into the game and got a
steal. It was 18-14 Aggies with seven
minutes remaining. Garza got fouled on a
three-point attempt and converted on all three foul shots. Garza also pulled down a rebound. Gabe
Hadley showed some defense and rejected a dunk attempt. Jack loved it. The Aggies pulled away 31-18 at the half.
Oh, this was perfect.
I’m having a bad night at work and I hear that I’m missing a game of Mascot Basketball during halftime. That’s just great. Here’s a good halftime stat: the Aggies were
11 for 11 in free throws. That’s how you
make a physical team pay. The Women’s
game started at about this time, since I had video for that one, I more or less
switched over, but kept an eye on the Men.
It wasn’t much of a game though.
The Aggies were up by at least 20 for most of the half. The final was 69-43 Aggies. Zach Lofton led the way with 14
points. Jemerrio Jones did the dirty work with 20 rebounds. Gabe
Hadley hit a couple of threes. Joe Garza finished with 9 points,
second in scoring, including two three’s.
I’d heard the coach call him and the rest of the bench out after the
last game, so apparently Joe heard him.
This was a great game for the team and Grand Canyon is coming in
Saturday having just lost tonight.
Meanwhile, the Aggie
Women were in Bakersfield. Their
last game against the Roadrunners was here (1-13-18). The Aggie girls had to make a great comeback
in the second half with the crowd behind them to get the win then. The Aggies were coming off a great, 79-77, win on Saturday at UTRGV.
I didn’t have access to any live coverage, but the paper had a sizable
article about the game. Zaire Williams hit a three to force
overtime and hit a pair of free throws for the win. Gia
Pack had a great night with 29 points.
Brooke Salas didn’t have a
particularly good game. If it was
because she was being guarded well, then her teammates did what they were
supposed to do: make the other team pay for leaving them open.
I was able to watch tonight’s game thanks to the WAC Digital Network. Thanks.
It was the Bakersfield feed. The
WAC scoring underneath video was actually 30 seconds ahead of the team
scoring. They also identified the Aggies
as UMKC, but with Aggie logo. This was corrected
at some point in the second quarter. The
first thing that strikes anyone watching a Bakersfield game is their shocking
solid blue floor. That has to be a bit
of a distraction for opponents. Their
facility is a large gym. They had a good
crowd and it looked like many students were there. They also had a very pretty blonde
cheerleader. I didn’t get to see enough
of her.
This matchup was #1 (Aggies) versus #2 (Roadrunners) in the
conference. The Aggies came out playing
a press defense and managed to get a steal on a trap, but Brooke lost it
moments later. I was still busy with
work. I missed most of the first
half. The Aggies were leading after the
first quarter, 16-11, and at the half 29-25.
The Roadrunners made a deep three at the buzzer, which seemed ominous at
the time. Brooke wasn’t playing when I
was watching in the second quarter. She
had two fouls. I don’t think she was
injured.
In the third, it was tied at 35 with four minutes left. Brooke was still not playing at the time, but
finally came back in before the end of the quarter. The fourth started 37 all. Unfortunately, the Aggies went cold shooting
were down by eight halfway through. What
felt like the back-breaker was Gia getting her pocket picked at midcourt and
that turning into a layup. Tonishia Childress hit a three to get
in within six with under a minute, but it was too late. 62-52
Roadrunners was the final and they took over first place.
Monique Mills
actually led the way for the Aggies with 12 points. I’m glad to see her back on track. She was also wearing her shorts hiked up like
that SDSU girl last week. I guess it’s a fashion thing. Everyone else was in single digits
scoring. Basketball analysis isn’t my
forte (neither is any other sport), but the only real standout postgame stat I
saw was this: the Aggies had 19 turnovers and the Roadrunners got 18 points off
those turnovers. I have to think Brooke
sitting out a significant amount of the game hurt the team. Duh.
Her not being a factor for these last two games has definitely made it
hard for the team. I don’t know if she’s
injured or sick or just being guarded better, but they need her to beat these
better teams in the conference.
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