New Mexico State Doesn’t Let Up on UC Irvine : Basketball: Anteaters’ top four scorers contribute only 11 points to a 90-60 loss at Las Cruces.

UC Irvine hoped to carry the emotion and momentum from Saturday’s runaway victory over Nevada into Thursday night’s game against New Mexico State. Sure, the Aggies hadn’t lost at home in almost two years, but the pumped-up Anteaters figured they could make it interesting.

As far as suspense goes, the only mystery in this one was whether crowd favorite Mike Schutz, a walk-on, was going to get into the game.

New Mexico State led by 28 points in the opening minutes of the second half and rolled to a 90-60 Big West victory over the deflated Anteaters in front of 6,749 in the Pan American Center.

With eight minutes remaining, the crowd began to chant, “Shoootz, Shoootz,” and with 3:20 left Aggie Coach Neil McCarthy walked down the bench, pointed at the junior from Wagon Mound, N.M., as if to say, ‘You want him?’ and the fans went into a frenzy.

Schutz came in to hit a three-pointer and was fouled on the play. He made the free throw to equal his previous total point output of the season.

“I thought they were booing something,” McCarthy said. “I asked what the heck they were booing and one of my assistants told me they were calling for Mike.

“Heck, I would’ve put him in sooner if I had known that.”

It was that kind of night for the Aggies (18-3 and 10-2 in conference). They shot 51% from the floor, 50% from three-point range and caused Irvine (6-15, 3-10) to commit 21 turnovers. So their concern turned to making the bench-warmers and the crowd happy, too.

“We got ahead and didn’t let up,” McCarthy said. “Our match-up zone is starting to really click. It’s a hard defense to learn and we have eight new players, so it’s a lot better now than it was a month ago, heck, two weeks ago.”

New Mexico State led by one, 19-18, and then went on a 24-8 tear to go ahead, 43-26, at halftime. The Aggies made six of 12 first-half three-point attempts while the Anteaters managed only two of 15.

Irvine had one field goal to show for its first 10 possessions of the second half and New Mexico State led, 57-29, with 14:43 left to play.

So what happened to the Irvine intensity that electrified the Anteaters during the 99-70 rout of Nevada?

“We wanted to bring it out again tonight, but people in hell want ice water, too,” Coach Rod Baker said. “We just didn’t compete.”

Baker, who said “playing hard” was the difference in Saturday’s victory, found a number of other factors involved in Thursday’s defeat.

“Their good players scored and our good players didn’t,” he said. “We couldn’t do anything on the perimeter to open up the inside and we didn’t do anything inside to open up the perimeter.

“We had way too many needless turnovers. About the only thing we did right was keep them from rebounding.”

Irvine’s top four scorers--guards Chris Brown and Lloyd Mumford, center DeForrest Boyer and forward Mark Odsather--combined to score 11 points. Reserve Khalid Channell was the only Anteater in double figures with 16 points.

New Mexico State’s top two scorers--forwards D.J. Jackson and James Dockery--combined to make 13 of 22 shots from the floor and score 34 points.

But none of those baskets, not the three-point swishes or the flying dunks, brought the roar of approval awarded Schutz, who was on his back when his three-pointer went in.

“I just saw the hand in my face and hoped it went in,” Schutz said softly. “It feels good to have them cheering for me, especially because I know we’ve got to be ahead by 25 before they start calling for me. And it feels good to get into a game and work up a sweat.”

So how will the good folks of Wagon Mound, a town of about 300 on the original Santa Fe Trail, react when they hear of their favorite son’s exploits?

“They probably won’t get the news for two or three days,” he said.

Irvine fans probably won’t be that fortunate.