Lofton, Aggies roll to seventh straight win

Jones posts double-double as New Mexico State stays unbeaten in WAC play

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Zach Lofton scored 19 points and New Mexico State rolled to a 73-48 victory over UMKC on Saturday night to remain undefeated atop the Western Athletic Conference.

New Mexico State (18-3, 6-0) has won seven straight games since its five-point loss to Southern California in the title game of the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu on Dec. 25. UMKC (6-17, 1-5) has lost six of its last seven.

Senior guard Lofton, who averages 19.9 points per game, made four 3-pointers and was 6-of-17 from the field. Jemerrio

Jones and Eli Chuha each scored 10 points. The Aggies outrebounded UMKC 48-33; Jones grabbed a game-high 15 in his 12th double-double of the season.

Xavier Bishop scored 12 points to lead the Kangaroos, who missed 23 shots from long range and finished 20-of-55 from the field.

The Aggies got a great jump to the game on a slam from Johnny McCants, who made his firstcareer start. An 8-2 run after the first media timeout then put the Aggies on top 15-6 with 9:50 left in the first-half.

Both teams hit a scoring lull before UMKC closed to within 19-15. New Mexico State then closed out the first half with a 13-5 run to take a 32-20 lead to intermission.

Jones got the Aggies going in the second half on a nice cross-paint pass from Johnathon Wilkins. NMSU scored in spurts for the next eight minutes as it slowly built the lead. Shunn Buchanan then gave the Aggies a 53-37 advantage on his second of two great finishes around the rim with 11:28 left to play.

Lofton gave the Aggies their first 20-plus point lead when he drilled a 3-pointer from the wing with 7:26 left to make the score 61-40. NM State outscored the ‘Roos 41-28 in the second-half and outrebounded UMKC 30-15 in the final 20 minutes of play.

The 48 points by UMKC were the fewest allowed by New Mexico State this season. The Aggies turned 16 UMKC turnovers into 18 points.

NMSU opens a four-game homestand Tuesday against Northern New Mexico.