CANCUN, Mexico — Two teams that take pride in stingy defense staged a rock fight of a basketball game on Tuesday night, and UC Irvine could never get its offense going in a 57-45 loss to New Mexico State in the second game of the Cancun Challenge at the Hard Rock Riviera Maya.
There were shooting struggles on both sides all night, but the Aggies used a timely run to pull away in the latter stages of the second half.
UCI’s 45 points was a season-worst, and it was the product of season-low 26.7% shooting from the field (12 for 45), which including a 2-for-16 showing from 3-point range. UCI held the Aggies to 37.5% shooting (18 for 48 overall and the same 2-for-16 mark from behind the arc, but New Mexico State also outrebounded the Anteaters 42-25 on a night when the teams combined for 39 turnovers (a season-worst 18 for UCI).
“Tough game for our team,” said UCI coach Russ Turner, whose team has lost straight games. “Credit to New Mexico State. They won tonight very much like we have often won. They ground us down, frustrated us with their defensive intensity, execution and rebounding, They were able to break the game and wear us out in a combination of physicality and continued defensive intensity. I think we could have won the game the same way that they did tonight despite our poor offensive performance.”
Derin Saran had 16 points – nine on free throws – to pace UCI (3-4), while Jurian Dixon added 10 points, three rebounds and three steals. Kyle Evans had a team-best six rebounds to go with five points and two blocked shots.
New Mexico State (5-0) forced six UCI turnovers in the first eight minutes and a 7-0 run gave the Aggies an early 16-7 lead. The Anteaters took a brief lead at 20-19 following a personal 7-0 run from Saran, but the Aggies closed the half with a little momentum and held a 26-20 advantage at the intermission.
The offensive struggles persisted for both squads, with only 18 points scored between the two in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Trailing 35-29, UCI got a 3-pointer from Saran during a 6-0 run that tied the score at 35-all with 8:29 left.
The Aggies answered with a pivotal 9-0 surge for a 44-35 advantage with 6:23 remaining. Back-to-back New Mexico State baskets created the first double-digit lead of the night (51-40) with 3:28 left, and the Aggies never led by fewer than eight the rest of the way, eventually pushing the margin to 14 points in the final minute.
Jemel Jones paced New Mexico State with 12 points, five rebounds and a team-high three steals. Jae’Coby Osborne added 10 points, and Jayland Randall contributed seven points and a team-high eight rebounds.
The Aggie reserves outscored the UCI bench 29-8 and the Anteaters shot 19 for 29 from the free-throw line on a night when Turner was left searching for ways to accelerate the learning curve for some of his less-experienced players.
“I’ve got to do a better job helping this team because we are not emerging at this stage against the difficult competition we have, the way I’d like to be this time of the year,” Turner said. “We need better performances from more guys. Our point guard play was especially young-looking, but they weren’t the only ones who played poorly. We are missing a lot of experience at the power forward position compared to past years.
“I’ve got to get our guys to play better and I know that we can, but that won’t be easy. The nature of this is hard. It was disappointing to see my guys miss as many layups and free throws as we missed. We are going to get better, but we have a long way to go. I hope our fans will stay with us as this team develops because we will develop.”
UP NEXT
UCI closes out the Challenge against South Dakota State on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. PT
