PCAA Basketball Roundup : Las Vegas Pulls Away to Beat New Mexico State, 69-64

Jarvis Basnight scored 22 points, and Gerald Paddio added 19 Saturday night as No. 15-ranked Nevada Las Vegas pulled ahead with five minutes left and defeated New Mexico State, 69-64, in a Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. basketball opener at Las Cruces, N.M.

New Mexico State (7-6) tied the game at 55-55 with 5:44 remaining when Steve McGlothin grabbed a rebound and scored on a layup.

Clint Rossum and Basnight followed with consecutive layups for the Runnin’ Rebels (10-0), and the Aggies never got closer than three points after that.

Virgil Harris led New Mexico State with 27 points, and Willie Joseph scored 14.

Nevada Las Vegas has won all 10 games it has played against the Aggies.

New Mexico State took advantage of UNLV’s ball-handling errors early, taking a 14-10 lead on Virgil Harris’ dunk with 12:33 remaining in the first half, but UNLV moved ahead, 32-27, by halftime.

New Mexico State made just 36% of its shots, going 24 for 66.

San Jose State 69, Fresno State 67--Rickey Berry scored 29 points to lead the Spartans to victory at Fresno.

San Jose opened a 64-54 lead with 1:50 left in the game, but Fresno State used the three-point shooting of Andre Sims to battle back before losing.

Sims, who had six three-point baskets in the game and 20 points overall, made three of the long-range shots in the last 1:26 but missed a final shot with three seconds left.

Forward Dietrich Waters had 10 points and 11 rebounds for San Jose, which improved its record to 5-4 overall. Fresno State is 3-7.

Forward Mike Mitchell had 20 points for Fresno State.

Utah State 78, UOP 71--Kevin Nixon scored 19 points and had 9 assists, leading the Aggies to their win at Stockton.

The Aggies (6-4) were up by 17 points late in the first half and by 14 at halftime. Pacific (5-6) pulled within two points in the second half.

The Tigers’ top scorers were Domingo Rosario with 19 points, and Christian Gray and Jon Barry with 13 apiece.