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LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- Senior guard Jonathan Gibson scored a career-high 31 points in New Mexico State's 84-68 victory over N.C. A&T on Thursday night.

New Mexico State (2-3) led 40-24 at halftime and 52-32 early in the second half, leading from start to finish. A&T (3-4) closed to 59-54 with 8:45 left on a Tavarus Alston layup, but that was as close as the Aggies came.

NMSU outscored A&T 23-14 in the final eight minutes, shooting 16 of 19 from the free-throw line during the stretch and 28 of 32 for the game.

Robert Johnson led A&T with 15 points.

Jahmar Young scored 23 points for New Mexico State, and Hamidu Rahman had 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds as New Mexico State outrebounded A&T 45-31.

New Mexico State scored the first nine points of the game as A&T missed its first 13 attempts from 3-point range. A&T was 9-of-39 from long range.

N.C. A&T (3-4)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Upchurch 7 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Johnson 30 5-14 3-4 0-5 2 2 15

Coleman 24 5-5 2-2 2-7 3 5 12

Alston 35 6-11 0-0 1-4 3 2 13

Simpson 24 3-11 0-0 0-0 3 4 8

Joshua 33 3-12 0-1 0-1 1 3 8

Hill 22 2-11 0-0 0-3 2 2 6

Witter 4 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 0 0

Porter 21 2-3 2-4 4-7 2 2 6

Totals 200 26-68 7-11 8-31 17 20 68

Percentages: FG .382, FT .636.

3-point goals: 9-39, .231 (Simpson 2-8, Johnson 2-8, Hill 2-8, Joshua 2-11, Alston 1-3, Witter 0-1).

Team rebounds: 1.

Blocked shots: 2 (Coleman, Porter).

Turnovers: 9 (Hill 2, Johnson 2, Alston 2, Joshua, Upchurch, Coleman).

Steals: 7 (Coleman 3, Simpson 2, Joshua, Porter).

NEW MEXICO STATE (2-3)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Lumpkins 30 3-6 1-1 0-3 0 0 7

Rahman 31 3-5 6-8 4-15 0 2 12

Young 30 5-7 11-12 0-4 5 3 23

Laroche 33 0-4 2-2 2-8 5 2 2

Gibson 32 9-16 8-9 0-6 2 1 31

Gomez 8 1-1 0-0 0-2 2 0 3

Sy 8 1-3 0-0 0-1 0 2 3

Merker 9 0-2 0-0 1-2 0 1 0

Castillo 19 1-10 0-0 2-3 1 2 3

Totals 200 23-54 28-32 9-45 15 13 84

Percentages: FG .426, FT .875.

3-point goals: 10-30, .333 (Gibson 5-9, Young 2-4, Gomez 1-1, Sy 1-3, Castillo 1-9, Lumpkins 0-1, Laroche 0-3).

Team rebounds: 1.

Blocked shots: 2 (Rahman, Castillo).

Turnovers: 16 (Sy 5, Young 3, Gomez 2, Lumpkins 2, Gibson 2, Rahman 2).

Steals: 3 (Gibson, Gomez, Castillo).

N.C. A&T 24 44 -- 68

New Mexico State 40 44 -- 84

A--4,462. Officials--Kelly Self, Ronnie Hernandez, Chris Rastatter.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT

EL PASO, Texas -- Christian Polk and Jeremy Williams scored 14 points each, leading five UTEP players in double figures, in Wednesday night's 81-66 victory over N.C. A&T.

A&T hit five 3-pointers over a seven-minute span in the first half to take a 29-28 lead with 4:02 remaining. The Miners answered with two 3-pointers during a 12-0 run. The biggest came on a Julyan Stone 3 at the buzzer that gave the Miners a 40-29 advantage at the half..

Dwane Joshua led the Aggies with 21 points. He made 6 of 9 3-point attempts.

N.C. A&T (3-3)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Upchurch 19 2-4 2-2 2-3 0 4 6

Johnson 21 0-3 0-0 0-1 1 3 0

Coleman 21 3-4 5-8 1-5 1 3 11

Alston 25 4-10 0-0 0-3 3 2 9

Simpson 26 2-9 0-0 0-3 0 0 5

Smith 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Buck 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Powell 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Joshua 25 6-12 3-3 3-6 2 3 21

Hill 25 3-7 2-2 1-4 6 1 10

Witter 12 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Porter 19 2-2 0-2 0-2 1 2 4

Totals 200 22-55 12-17 8-28 14 19 66

Percentages: FG .400, FT .706.

3-point goals: 10-25, .400 (Joshua 6-9, Hill 2-3, Simpson 1-3, Alston 1-4, Smith 0-1, Powell 0-1, Witter 0-2, Johnson 0-2).

Team rebounds: 1.

Blocked shots: 2 (Coleman, Porter).

Turnovers: 14 (Hill 4, Joshua 3, Alston 2, Simpson 2, Johnson 2, Upchurch).

Steals: 4 (Alston, Hill, Joshua, Coleman).

UTEP (4-0)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Moultrie 26 3-5 4-5 2-6 1 1 10

Britten 19 1-4 0-0 0-4 0 3 2

Culpepper 25 4-14 2-2 1-4 4 3 11

Stone 31 4-7 2-3 1-8 4 0 13

Polk 20 5-8 2-2 0-0 1 1 14

Strong 9 1-1 0-0 0-1 3 2 3

Portalatin 12 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 5 0

Gordon 19 2-5 1-2 0-4 0 0 6

Ruppel 16 3-4 0-0 1-3 1 1 8

Williams 23 4-5 5-7 2-3 2 1 14

Totals 200 27-53 16-21 7-35 17 17 81

Percentages: FG .509, FT .762.

3-point goals: 11-24, .458 (Stone 3-5, Ruppel 2-2, Polk 2-4, Williams 1-1, Strong 1-1, Gordon 1-3, Culpepper 1-7, Moultrie 0-1).

Team rebounds: 1.

Blocked shots: 5 (Stone 2, Moultrie, Williams, Gordon).

Turnovers: 13 (Culpepper 3, Polk 2, Moultrie 2, Stone 2, Strong 2, Britten, Williams).

Steals: 9 (Moultrie 4, Portalatin 2, Polk, Stone, Culpepper).

N.C. A&T 29 37 -- 66

UTEP 40 41 -- 81

A--7,631. Officials--Tom O'Neill, Terry Oglesby, Quinton Reece.