1st in WAC New Mexico St. beats UT Rio Grande 86-71

Mar 4, 2018, 03:44 am

EDINBURG, Texas -- Jemerrio Jones scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and New Mexico State beat UT Rio Grande Valley 86-71 on Saturday in a regular-season finale.

Zach Lofton added 17 points and 10 rebounds, Johnathon Wilkins had 16 points and A.J. Harris 15 for the Aggies (25-5, 12-2 Western Athletic Conference) who finish first in the conference standings and head to the WAC Tournament quarterfinals as the No. 1 seed to face eighth-seeded Chicago State on March 8.

The Aggies took an early lead in the first half and a Harris 3-pointer capped an 11-5 surge midway to give them a 27-16 advantage. They stretched it to 48-33 at halftime.

Lofton, Keyon Jones and Sidy N'Dir drained 3-pointers and Wilkins and Jemerrio Jones made dunks in a 13-3 start to the second half for a 61-36 lead and the Aggies cruised from there.

Nick Dixon scored 14 points for the Vaqueros (15-16, 6-8).