New Mexico St. Survives Titans

New Mexico State Coach Lou Henson called it a gift.

But if it was, it wasn’t one Cal State Fullerton gave up without a fight.

The Titans appeared to have Henson’s Aggies by the throat with an upset within their reach Thursday night in the Pan American Center, but New Mexico State escaped with a 89-87 victory on the opening night of Big West Conference play.

It took the Aggies two overtimes to finally nail it down.

“They deserved to win the way they played,” Henson said of the Titans.

The Titans had a three-point lead when Aggie point guard Donminic Ellison made an off-balance, one-handed three-point shot with 11 seconds left to give New Mexico State a tie at the end of the first overtime.

In the second overtime, the Titans led, 85-84, with 21 seconds left after Chris Dade made two free throws, but Ellison again saved the Aggies. Ellison drove down the lane and made a 10-foot shot with eight seconds left. Fouled on the play, Ellison also made the free throw for a two-point lead.

A three-point shot by reserve guard Dane Plock missed from outside, and Ellison made two more free throws with 1.4 seconds left to assure the Aggies (11-4, 1-0) the victory. Fullerton’s Matt Caldwell scored at the buzzer.

It was sixth loss on the road without a victory this season--and 12th consecutive road loss over two seasons--for Fullerton (5-6, 0-1).

“We don’t have anything to hang our heads about,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said. “That’s about as good as it gets if you’re a college basketball fan. It was a tremendous effort by both teams, but they made the crucial plays down the stretch.”

Though Ellison made the big plays, the Aggies received strong performances throughout the game from forwards Louis Richardson and Charles Gosa. Richardson scored 26 points and Gosa a career-high 25. Ellison finished with 13 points.

Dade led the Titans with 25, making nine of 12 free throws. Caldwell, a freshman center starting only his second game, had 15 points and nine rebounds. His strong rebounding and defensive play was a big factor in the final minutes of regulation.

Caldwell blocked one shot, tied up a loose ball and tipped away another missed shot in the final minute.

“It was a physical game, and that’s the way I had to play,” Caldwell said. “We should have won. That three-point shot that guy banked in in the overtime was a joke. But you know when you’re on the road, everything isn’t going to go your way.”

Hawking said he would take an off-balance shot by Ellison again in that situation. “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good,” Hawking said.

Henson thought the Titans also had their share of breaks. “But you have to give Fullerton credit,” Henson said. “They’re a good team, and they’re hard to guard. But we were out of sync on defense, and we stood around too much on offense. We made 14 turnovers, and that’s another reason I thought it was a gift for us to win this game.”

Fullerton ran into foul problems early in both halves. Forwards Ike Harmon and Mark Richardson both eventually fouled out, and neither was available for the second overtime. New Mexico State had 10 more points at the free-throw line.

The Aggies made 27 of 39 at the line to Fullerton’s 17 of 27. The Titans shot 42.5% from the field compared to 41.8% for the Aggies.

“Any time you play that many minutes, it becomes a question of who can deal with the fatigue factor,” Hawking said. “But I’m proud of our kids. This is a tough place to play, and the record of Big West teams on the road this season already has been well-documented.”

It was New Mexico State’s 12th victory in its last 14 games at home against the Titans.

Hawking said his team had trouble handling Richardson and Gosa inside this time. “They gave us the same kind of matchup problems that they would give anyone in the league,” Hawking said. “We had to guard some big guys with some perimeter players.”