PCAA Men’s Semifinal : Travis Leads New Mexico St. Past Pacific, 75-61

New Mexico State’s strange season nearly took another turn for the worse Friday night.

The Aggies, who started fast, finished with a whimper, but they survived a threat from a University of Pacific team that once appeared to be in danger of not even reaching the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn.’s post-season tournament.

Guard Kenny Travis had a game-high 27 points to lead the Aggies to a 75-61 victory over UOP before 9,594 fans at the Forum.

New Mexico State (18-11) will meet top-seeded Nevada Las Vegas (30-4) for the tournament championship today at 2 p.m.

The Aggies didn’t exactly enter this tournament with a wave of momentum. After an 8-1 start in which they emerged as the biggest surprise in the conference, they closed the regular season by winning only two of their last nine games. One of the losses was to Pacific, 88-74, on Feb. 15.

Pacific won its last three games--and five of its last six--to qualify for the tournament. And much of that spurt came without sophomore Domingo Rosario, the team’s second-leading scorer, who broke his leg in an auto accident on Feb. 16.

New Mexico State had built a 20-8 lead early in the first half but due largely to 6-9 Brent Counts, Pacific was not blown out early. The son of former Laker center Mel Counts made six of seven shots in the first half for 12 points. His turnaround jumper in the lane cut New Mexico State’s lead to 20-18 with 8:13 left in the first half.

But Travis had 15 first-half points on 6-for-8 shooting, including a breakaway dunk at the buzzer that gave the Aggies a 31-25 halftime lead.