Turnabout Is Fair Play for Crawford : College basketball: He leads New Mexico State’s 77-65 victory over Cal State Long Beach to avenge loss.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Sam Crawford returned the favor Saturday night.

With eight pro basketball scouts in the crowd, he scored a game-high 22 points and had six assists as New Mexico State beat Cal State Long Beach, 77-65, in a Big West Conference game before 12,249 at the Pan Am Center.

New Mexico State (17-1, 9-1), which has won eight consecutive games, remains alone in first place in the Big West after avenging a 26-point loss at Long Beach on Jan. 9.

“We wanted to eliminate the only loss we had, the one we lost there,” Crawford said.

The 49ers (14-5, 6-4) have lost four of their last six games to drop from first to third in the conference standings, only half a game ahead of Pacific, which was upset by San Jose State on Saturday, 54-50.

Crawford, who leads the nation is assists, was stung by criticism by some 49ers after the Aggies’ 97-71 loss in Long Beach. He particularly didn’t like, said Aggie Coach Neil McCarthy, Long Beach making a big deal about Crawford being shut down by guard Lucious Harris, also the object of pro scouts’ attention. Crawford scored 16 points at Long Beach but fouled out for the first time in his career.

For a good portion of the night Saturday, the 6-foot-5 Harris guarded Crawford again. But this time the 5-8 playmaker won the individual competition.

“Let’s just say that I was waiting for him to get on me,” Crawford said. “I wasn’t afraid.”

Harris finished with 19 points but committed five of the team’s 22 turnovers.

“They extended their zone way out there this time,” Harris said. “At (Long Beach) they didn’t do that, and we didn’t penetrate (this time) as well as we should have.”

The lead changed hands or was tied 16 times during the first half. A basket by Harris with 3:36 to play gave the 49ers a 31-30 lead.

New Mexico State, led by seven points and several key assists from Crawford, then outscored the 49ers, 14-0, and took a 44-31 lead with 14:24 to play on a 17-footer by Crawford. The Aggies expanded that to as many as 19 points twice in the final six minutes.

The 49ers will travel to Las Vegas to play the second-place Runnin’ Rebels, ranked 10th in the nation, on Monday night. UNLV lost, 101-94, at Long Beach on Jan. 7, a defeat that ended the nation’s longest Division I winning streak at 29 games.