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San Diego State had a 12-point lead at the half, and led by as many as 14 in the second half, but New Mexico State would not go away. The Aggies went on a big run to star the second half by going on an 18 to 8 run to make it a two-point game with 13:38 left in the game. The game ultimately went to overtime where the Aztecs held off the Aggies to win 73-69.
San Diego State tightened up their offense and went on their own little run to expand their lead back to 20 points by going on a 16-4 run to give them some breathing room with just under four minutes left in the game.
New Mexico State was clearly running out of gas during the San Diego State run and were unable to make a bucket, or stop San Diego State from scoring. The turning point during that stretch was a dagger of a three-point shot by Winston Shepard to put the Aztecs up six, and then he made a layup to go up by 10 which seemingly looked like it sealed the game for San Diego State. Seemingly over, but not over.
New Mexico State came back to make it a three-point game at 33 seconds and then again at 15 seconds after a Renaldo Dixon layup. San Diego State decided to get the ball in bounds as soon as possible but Thames fumbled the quick pass and New Mexico State recovered and Kevin Aronis made a deep three-pointer to tie the game and send it into overtime. Here is video of that crazy end of regulation sequence.
San Diego State recovered in overtime and started out by going on a 7-3 run to create some breathing room, but New Mexico State would not go away. The Aztecs had a chance to go up four points when Dwayne Polee went to the free throw line up two and with six seconds left. Polee missed the first free throw but he made the second to go up three points, and he went to the line on the next possession where he sunk both to put San Diego State up by four to seal the game.
The leading scorer for San Diego State was Xavier Thames who scored 23 points to lead all scorers.
Up next for San Diego State is No. 12 seeded North Dakota State with the two teams playing Saturday at 6:10 p.m. ET on TNT.