New Mexico State basketball falls apart in second half in loss to Kennesaw State

[ad_1]

New Mexico State entered halftime on Thursday against Kennesaw State with momentum. It made five of its last eight shots, held the Owls to only one 3-pointer and led 34-24.

Twenty minutes later, it all fell apart.

The Aggies (11-8, 4-2 Conference USA) completely collapsed in the second half against the Owls (12-7, 4-2) at home. NM State was outscored 45-22 after halftime and lost 69-56, with Bet MGM’s 7.5-point underdogs KSU ending the game on an 18-2 run.

The Aggies played good defense en route to their halftime lead and held the Owls to 32.3% shooting. But then, KSU opened the floodgates and shot 53.3% after halftime, while NM State made only seven of its 32 second-half shots. The Aggies put heavy pressure on the Owls’ Adrian Wooley in the first half, but he found a way in the second half with 17 points after halftime on 6-for-10 shooting. CUSA’s fourth-leading scorer heading into Thursday ended with 23 points.

NM State’s loss snapped a five-game home winning streak in front of a season-high 4,599 fans, and have now lost consecutive conference games after starting CUSA play 4-0.

“They beat us in every facet,” Aggies coach Jason Hooten said. “I thought they came out with a lot of juice, and they really were hungry. We were up 10, and we just didn’t have our juice. I’m not sure why. I can’t explain that part, but I just thought that in order to win a game against a team that’s so talented, that we were going to have to really lock in and play the defense that we did in the first half, and we didn’t.”

The Owls started their second-half comeback early. KSU began with a 12-5 run in the half’s first four minutes and took its first lead of the game four minutes later on two Wooley free throws. The Aggies got momentum back with a short 7-0 between the eight and six-minute marks, but that’s when the Owls’ 18-2 run began. NM State made only one of its last eight shots during that run.

More: New Mexico State football transfer portal tracker: Who’s in, out for the Aggies?

Hooten believes…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/mexico-state-basketball-falls-apart-164743477.html

Author : Las Cruces Sun-News

Publish date : 2025-01-24 16:47:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.