The Aggies protected their home court Wednesday night after defeating Dixie State 75-64. The night was capped by a historic milestone set by hometown hero Johnny McCants, as he notched his 1,000th career point. McCants is the third Aggie this season to join the 1,000 point club and the second in back-to-back games after Jabari Rice reached his milestone on the road last weekend.  

The show was started by sophomore forward Mike Peake who came out with a great deal of energy providing NMSU with their first six points of the game for the team. Peake came out shooting 3-3 with a pair of layups and a fastbreak dunk to end his personal scoring run. Dixie State took their first lead of the game near the 15 minute mark on a three point field goal by Dancell Letter to give the Trailblazer an early 13-12 lead.  

After chasing the lead for nearly seven minutes, the Aggies regained the lead off a triple by Teddy Allen to force a Dixie State timeout. Coming out of that timeout the Aggies would go on a 10-2 scoring run to, where they would keep the lead for the remainder of the game. NMSU would close the final two minutes of the half with possession ending on dunks to give them the 37-25 lead heading into halftime.  

The Trailblazers tried cutting into the Aggie lead after a triple by Isaiah Pope to open the half. McCants would answer at the stripe then later with a triple of his own where he would score the first four of his nine second half points. While remaining perfect at the free throw line, Allen would grow the lead to 15 after a pair of free throws at the eight minute mark of the second half as the Aggies matched their largest lead of the night.  

After momentarily trading baskets, Dixie State would scratch their way back to a four-point deficit to a 63-59 game with a little more than two minutes remaining. Following a missed shot by the Trailblazers, Allen snagged the rebound to record his sixth double-double of the season finish with 20 points and 10 rebounds on the night.  

NM State would fight off the Trailblazers in the final two minutes at the free throw line while finishing the game on a perfect note of 8-8 at the stripe.  

“The energy in the locker room was off the charts. Knowing that we just came off a loss we were supposed to win, it was fuel to the fire and that’s why we came out the way we did,” said Peake on what contributed to the Aggies’ strong finish and fast start.  

The Aggies remain a perfect 4-0 against Dixie State as they improve to an overall record of 21-4 and a 11-2 conference record. NMSU is currently tied for first in WAC standings and will be traveling to Phoenix on Saturday to take on Grand Canyon at 6 p.m.