The opening minutes were evenly matched and Seattle U led 11-10 at the 13:19 mark. From there, however, over the ensuing five minutes the Aggies went on a 11-0 run and led 21-11 with eight minutes remaining in the first stanza.
The Aggies’ defense was stellar in the first half and kept the Redhawks off-balance. NM State scored 11 points off 10 forced turnovers.
“Defense played inspired tonight,” added Menzies. “The guys are starting to understand what they are supposed to do on defense and it’s showing.”
It was more of the same in the second half as the NM State offense showed no signs of slowing down.
DK Eldridge nailed a deep 3-pointer and converted a jumper on back-to-back possessions and the Aggies opened up at 44-27 advantage with 12:31 remaining in the second half.
Siakam’s 24 points were the most points scored by an Aggie this season.
“He’s playing like a sophomore,” Menzies said. “He was 8-of-8 from the free-throw line and that’s huge. His overall game has improved and we’ve just scratched the surface with him.”
Tshilidzi Nephawe scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds and DK Eldridge helped out with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor.
For the game NM State (16-10, 8-1 WAC) shot 44 percent (23-of-52) from the floor, while holding Seattle (11-12, 4-5 WAC) to 30 percent (12-of-40) from the field. The Aggies defense was stingy in the second half, holding the Redhawks to 18 percent (4-of-22).
The Aggies return to the hardwood Saturday evening against Bakersfield.
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