Late moments elude New Mexico State basketball in close loss to Jacksonville State

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New Mexico State thought it had a spark Saturday evening.

Senior guard Christian Cook made a wild 3-point shot with 6:51 to play against Jacksonville State at home in a Conference USA matchup. He fell in the process, and produced the biggest crowd burst of the night to put the Aggies up 50-48. Moments later, graduate student forward Peter Filipovity sent the fans to their feet again with a layup, but missed the and-1 opportunity as NMSU held onto a 52-50 advantage.

NM State coach Jason Hooten was looking for similar moments in the last seven minutes. He didn’t get many. JSU tied it and took a 56-54 lead with 3:55 left, and it’d never trail again in a 65-59 loss to the Aggies.

The effort was there against Jacksonville State (13-7, 5-2 Conference USA), but the win wasn’t for the Aggies (11-9, 4-3).

“I thought our guys fought their tail off,” Hooten said. “I can’t be more proud of how hard they played and they left everything they had out there. … I wish I had a magic wand that when things aren’t going your way, you could just wave it, and then things would be better.”

More: NMSU acting AD Amber Burdge outlines goals, ambitions for next six months of Aggie sports

The Aggies almost earned another big moment. Down 63-59, with 53 seconds left, senior guard Dionte Bostick stole a bad pass. Cook missed a kick-out 3-pointer, though, and graduate student forward Robert Carpenter missed another. NM State could’ve cut its deficit to one point. Instead, it never scored again.

The Aggies ended shooting 34.4% from the field, their third-straight game under 40%. That was the story of the game for Hooten. NM State got good looks, but the shots weren’t falling.

“I wish just a couple of them went in. And if they would have, it would have been a totally different game,” Hooten said. “We had some wide-open shots, and we just missed. That’s just how it goes.”

The Aggies prepare for treks to Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky. The CUSA co-leader Blue Raiders (14-6, 5-2) are first at 5:30 p.m….

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/moments-elude-mexico-state-basketball-142810249.html

Author : Las Cruces Sun-News

Publish date : 2025-01-26 14:28:00

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