Lofton, Aggies too much for Utah Valley

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Zach Lofton made seven 3-pointers and scored 24 points and New Mexico State defeated Utah Valley 86-59 on Saturday to win its fifth straight and take sole possession of first place in the Western Athletic Conference.

Lofton, a graduate transfer from Texas Southern and former Southwestern Athletic Conference player of the year, was 7-of13 on 3-pointers with the team finishing 15-of-28. Sidy N’Dir added 17 points.

Lofton, N’Dir and Johnathon Wilkins scored nine points each in taking a 39-29 halftime lead. Lofton made four 3-pointers over the first eight minutes of the second half when the Aggies (17-3, 5-0) outscored the Wolverines 24-6 to lead by 28.

Kenneth Ogbe scored 13 points for Utah Valley.

Utah Valley (15-6, 4-1), which handed New Mexico State its only loss last season at the Pan American Center to snap the Aggies’ 23-game home streak, saw its eight-game winning streak end.

The 15 triples from New Mexico State were a season-high for the Aggies. The last time NM State hit 15-plus from beyond the arc was on Dec. 28, 2008, against Loyola Marymount. With the win, the Aggies have now won six straight games, including a 10 straight in WAC play spanning into last season.

“Obviously we came out of the gates really well, we kind of established our identity,” Aggies coach Chris Jans said. “I think it was a wire-to-wire win, and overall in my opinion, it could have been one of the best games we have played all year — definitely the best game we have played at home thus far.”

New Mexico State held Utah Valley’s Akolda Manyang, a 7-foot transfer from Oklahoma, to just one point and held one of the nation’s best rebounders to just four boards as well. As a team, the 59 points by Utah Valley Saturday were the secondlowest point total of the season, just above the 58 at home versus in-state rival BYU.

It was the sixth time this season the Aggies, who shot 54.8 percent from the field, had eclipsed the 50-percent mark.