Nov. 14, 2007

Final Stats

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - New Mexico State defeated UC Davis, 75-65, Wednesday night at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, N.M. NMSU jumped out to an 11-0 lead and never trailed. Vince Oliver led UC Davis (1-1) with 17 points as four Aggies finished in double figures. Wendell McKines finished with 17 to lead New Mexico State (1-2). NMSU outrebounded UC Davis, 47-20. The game was part of the StubHub Legends Classic.

Despite the early deficit, the Aggies battled back. NMSU held UC Davis scoreless through the first 5:38 of the game before a jumper by C.J. Portz put the Aggies on the board. New Mexico State led 18-7 at the 10:43 mark before UC Davis ran off five straight points. The mini-run was capped off by a Shane Hanson trey with 9:12 left in the half to make it 18-12. Hanson finished with 11 points on 4-for-7 shooting.

Freshman Ryan Silva, who finished with 12 points on four three-pointers, hit his first trey with 6:06 left in the half to pull UC Davis within 22-17. That would be as close as the Aggies would get as New Mexico State went to the break with a 36-22 lead.

NMSU opened up as much as a 20-point lead at the 16:33 mark of the second half before UC Davis began to chip away again. With 3:39 to play and trailing by 15, UC Davis went on an 8-2 burst to close within 81-72. The run started with a Silva three and ended with another Silva trey with 2:40 left in the game.

For the game, NMSU shot 51.7 percent while UC Davis finished 24-for-54 from the floor for 44.4 percent. Twenty-two of NMSU's 47 rebounds were offensive. Hatila Passos led the game with 13 boards to go along with his nine points.

"We got dominated on the backboard," said UC Davis head coach Gary Stewart. "You can't play on the road when you get in that type of situation where you're going to give a team two and three opportunities to score. Individually, we did some good things but collectively as a team we need to play much better, and we will."

Oliver shot 6-for-12 from the field and went 3-for-7 from beyond he arc. Mark Payne was the fourth Aggie in double figures with 10 points. Payne and Hanson led UC Davis with five rebounds. Payne led the game with six assists.

UC Davis did a better job than New Mexico State in holding onto the basketball. The visiting Aggies forced the home Aggies into 22 turnovers while committing 14.

UC Davis concludes its road trip Friday when it faces No. 16 Texas in Austin.