Aggies headed to the Dance

By Daniel Bowdich The Round Up

March 14, 2007

Las Cruces, NM (CSTV U-WIRE) -- There is a reason why when this time comes around every year, it is dubbed March Madness.

On Saturday night, the New Mexico State Aggies took March Madness and added to it another level of excitement, thanks to their WAC championship clinching victory over the Utah State Aggies.

"It's hard to describe," said Aggie coach Reggie Theus about the automatic bid to the Big Dance the Aggies received with the win. "It's been a hard road, and we've only had two players reach the dance, and I'm so proud to be part of these young men's lives as they experience this outstanding situation."

Though nail-biting at times, the game never seemed like it was going to go in favor of the Utags, even after Tyrone Nelson threw the ball away with one second left that returned the ball over to the Utags.

"There are 100 things you can do with 1.2 seconds left," Theus said. "Tyrone told me in the huddle that he might go long and I told him 'No you won't.'"

Even with the crucial mistake from the Aggies, the Utags were unable to take advantage of the gift that was given to them, and after Utah State guard Jaycee Carroll's desperation three fell short of the rim, the PanAmaniacs quickly rushed the court to celebrate with the team that just gave them a championship.

"We did every thing we could, we came out and gave a great effort," said Utag coach Stew Morrill after the game. "We hung in there and kept battling. I am very proud of my guys."

From the start, it appeared nothing was going to stop the Aggies from hoisting the championship trophy after the game.

The Aggies exploded out of the gates, jumping to a 16-2 lead, which had the Pan American Center at its loudest point for the entire season.

The Aggies would then build their lead to 17-points in the first half, which slowly dwindled down towards the end of the first half and into the first ten minutes of the second half, with the Utag comeback eventually becoming a one point lead for the Utags with a whole ten minutes still remaining in the game.

"I told our guys when we were up big, [Utah State] would comeback," Theus said. "Ted Knauber played the best game of his life and Gibson, who wanted so hard to get an opportunity to play and do well, just showed up big time for us tonight."

Before the game, the big question revolving around the Aggies was how they were going to guard Carroll, who dropped in 44 points on them earlier in the season.

With Gibson playing six big second half minutes, the other guards were able to get a break from all the running they were doing with Carroll; Gibson also contributed in the semi containment of Carroll, who scored a hard-earned 26 points on 9-of-17 shooting.

"Every single guy was very physical with me, and they all played hard," Carroll said about how NMSU defended him. "I was getting bumped and bumped and kicked all night."

The Aggies will now take on Big 12 powerhouse, the Texas Longhorns, who are coming off a loss to the Kansas Jayhawks in the Big 12 conference championship.

Seeded 13th, and headed to Spokane, Washington, the Aggies will try to keep up their hot-shooting and tenacious defense in the first round of the tournament against the fourth seeded Longhorns.

In the championship game against the Utags, the Aggies shot a solid 47.5 percent, and were nearly perfect from the foul line, going 10-of-11 from the stripe.

Guard Justin Hawkins, who was named tournament MVP, led the Aggies with 20 points on 9-of-17 felid goal attempts in 38 minutes of play.

This will be Hawkins' third visit to the NCAA tournament, with his first two being with the University of Utah.

"I've been [to the NCAA tournament] twice and I want to go there every year that I'm in college," Hawkins said. "I never dreamed that I would be MVP, I just want to be known a winner."

The tournament will tip-off on Thursday, with the Aggies playing on Friday.

About his team's chances in the tournament, Theus said he believes his team is "capable of beating anyone in the country."