HOME away from home
NMSU gives fans from the Albuquerque-area a look at Aggies hoops
RIO RANCHO — “Welcome to Aggie-querque.”
And with that, the New Mexico State men’s basketball team tipped off its game against Northern New Mexico in a most unusual venue in an even more unusual locale. Nope, not Las Cruces. Not Española — which might have been even more of a surprise.
And not Albuquerque, as the pregame public address announcement might suggest.
The Aggies took their home game against the NAIA Eagles to Rio Rancho’s Santa Ana Star Center — one they won by a lopsided 85-54 margin on Monday night — and gave Aggie fans from the Duke
City-area a taste of NMSU roundball.
The crowd, announced at 2,306, looked to be just shy of filling half of the arena. There was also a large walk-up line for tickets to the event. And while the atmosphere wasn’t exactly the same as the Pan American Center — then again, maybe it was, considering the crowds these days — the fans were more than appreciative.
“This is great,” said Phillip Griego, who attended the game with wife, Phyllis, and their sons, 10-year-old P.J. and 18-year-old Patrick. “We have a daughter going to NMSU right now, so we get down there about twice a year. But this is nice having a game like this in our own backyard.”
Both Phillip and Phyllis graduated from New Mexico State and Patrick plans on being a freshman there next year.
“It’s really a great atmosphere and a really nice crowd,” Phyllis said. “We didn’t know what to expect, but it turned out great.”
NMSU entered the game on a seven-game winning streak and having just taken over sole possession of first place in the Western Athletic Conference at 8-1. But it had little problem staying focused during the home/road game against a small-school opponent.
“It was a little bit of an outof-the-box scenario, but I’m really pleased with how everything worked out,” said NMSU coach Marvin Menzies. “Right before the half was over, I kind of went over and thanked the Aggie fans and gave kind of a queen’s wave to them. We really do appreciate it.
“… I think the guys kind of get it, but being as young as they are don’t fully understand the dynamics of New Mexico … But this was definitely a positive.”
It was the fifth straight year the Aggies (17-8) and Eagles (13-13) met, with NMSU winning each time.
New Mexico State’s Pascal Siakam, who earlier in the day was picked as WAC player of the week for the fifth time this season — a league record — didn’t have a double-double for just the fourth time this season. But he played just 17 minutes as Menzies was able to use his entire roster early and often. Twelve of the 13 Aggies played double-figure minutes.
Tanveer Bhullar came off the bench for a game-high 14 points while Johnathon Wilkins hit 6-of-7 shots to score 12 for NMSU.
“It was a little different, seeing that it was a home game but still three hours away from Las Cruces,” said Aggie junior Ian Baker, who had eight points in 12 minutes. “But it was fun. It was good for us. We wanted to use this as an opportunity to get better and not take them lightly.”
The idea to play in Rio Rancho was the brainchild of athletic director Mario Moccia. He and university president Garrey Carruthers held a pre-game meet-and-greet with alumni members.
“This was really a shot in the dark,” Moccia said. “My goal was to break even financially, and we’re going to do that. But at the same time, I thought it was about more than the money. It was more of an outreach to Rio Rancho, Albuquerque and Northern New Mexico.
“We wanted to get people to experience this and talk about it. We’d like to make a threeto-five year commitment to do this once a year. This area is so important to us for our alums.”