Jaelen House scored 26 points to lead the New Mexico men’s basketball team to an 88-70 win against No. 19 San Diego State in a Mountain West Conference game on Saturday afternoon in Albuquerque, N.M.
Jamal Mashburn Jr. overcame a slow start to finish with 19 points for New Mexico (14-3, 2-2 Mountain West), which was playing in front of its largest home crowd in 15 years.
JT Toppin contributed 17 points, 16 rebounds and five blocked shots and Mustapha Amzil scored 12 points off the bench for the Lobos, who blocked 14 shots compared to one for the Aztecs and owned a 47-37 rebounding edge.
Jaedon LeDee, who came in leading the conference at 22 points a game, was held to 15 points by the Lobos. Miles Byrd scored 13 points and fellow reserve Darrion Trammell contributed 12 points for San Diego State (14-3, 3-1), which had won seven straight.
The 12th block of the game by New Mexico led to two free throws by House and a 47-40 lead.
San Diego State responded with a 6-0 run to pull within a point with 15:50 left in the game, but the Aztecs couldn’t get any closer.
Mashburn was 1-for-9 from the field when he sank a jumper for a 62-51 lead with 11:28 left. After two missed free throws on the other end, House hit another jumper to make it 64-51 and the Aztecs did not get back within single digits.
The Lobos used a 17-0 run late in the first half to erase a 12-point deficit and take a 40-37 lead into the break.
House scored the first 11 points of the run before Toppin’s offensive rebound and putback moved New Mexico ahead 36-35 with 2:27 left.
San Diego State guard Reese Waters missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw situation after coming into the game 43-for-44 from the line and the run continued.
Trammell finally ended it with a jumper to cut the lead to 40-37 with 37 seconds left in the half.
Trammell scored nine points in the first half to lead the Aztecs.
House scored 14 points to lead the Lobos, who blocked 11 shots in the opening 20 minutes.
–Field Level Media