New Mexico State was up 21 points with 16 minutes remaining – 15 minutes later, the Aggies were hanging by a thread.

NM State (3-0) had a stretch of nearly 10 minutes without a field goal against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (1-3) between 18:35 and 9:07 of the second half, allowing the Islanders to slowly make progress. far from the significant deficit. When graduate student forward Robert Carpenter finally opened the net, the Aggies’ lead was just 12 points. Soon it was in single digits as NM State’s shooting struggles in the second half continued.

The game came down to the final play. Senior guard Christian Cook missed one of two free throws before A&M-CC’s Isaac Williams missed a three-pointer. Garry Clark of the Islanders scored two points, but it didn’t matter as the Aggies still won 83-82 Thursday night at home.

It’s still a win for NM State, but they feel lucky to have won.

“We feel lucky to win this game,” Aggies coach Jason Hooten said. “It’s new for these guys trying to learn how to put people away. You can’t simulate what happened at the end of that game in practice…I thought the last three or four minutes we just couldn’t stop them.

NM State started well on offense, shooting 48.5% from the floor in the first half with 10 of its 11 players scoring points. But the Aggies shot just 32.1 percent in the second half, while the Islanders shot 47.2 percent in the final 20 minutes and made six of their final 11 field goals.

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A&M-CC pulled a one-score game at 80-77 with 19 seconds left after a layup, and the Aggies needed to finish off the Islanders. It would have been easy to panic, but senior guard Dionte Bostick ensured NM State remained calm during the ensuing timeout.

They did so and were able to score a few more and make the saves needed to win.

“We just had to stay relaxed,” Bostick said. “I feel like when you get nervous and anxious, you lose that moment. We needed to come together.”

After a 1-2 start last season, 3-0 is a positive start; however, New Mexico State has work to do. Hooten says he hasn’t found his ideal rotation yet and thinks his team of 10-plus new players hasn’t yet found the right cohesion and maturity with each other.

But Hooten believes the Aggies have potential, something they will unlock with time.

“It’s a lot better than last year at this time,” Hooten said. “We haven’t fully accepted the way I want to play yet, and I just think once we do, this team is going to take off.”

Cherenfant impresses in the starting XI

Sophomore guard Carl Cherenfant started his first game for NM State against Utah Tech on Saturday and got another chance to prove himself against A&M-CC.

The Memphis transfer retained his spot in the starting lineup and scored 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting. Cherenfant fouled out with less than two minutes remaining, but was able to contribute.

Hooten likes having Cherenfant in the starting lineup, believing his 6-foot-5 size helps the Aggies on the wing.

“He had some good practices. Usually we reward people with (good) practices,” Hooten said. “That position was a little open…I think we changed our team a little bit because Carl gave us some bounce and size.”

Cherenfant averaged just 4.2 minutes per game last season at Memphis and says he feels better with more playing time at NM State.

“Everything has become more comfortable for me,” Cherenfant said. “I’m actually playing at the college level and seeing good minutes, and I’m just adjusting to that.”

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Four-game road trip looms

The Aggies have a 10-day trip away from Las Cruces coming up, and it won’t be easy for them.

NM State plays Dayton (3-0) Wednesday at 5 p.m. before facing UNLV three days later. The former made the NCAA tournament last season, while the latter was picked to finish in the top 5 in the Mountain West Conference in a preseason poll. The Aggies then participate in the Arizona Tip-Off in Tempe against Pepperdine and that of Weber State or Bowling Green from November 29 to 30.

Hooten and Cherenfant are excited, believing the four matches provide an “opportunity” to make a statement.

“We know it’s going to be a beast,” Hooten said. “It gives us the opportunity to play against really good people and improve. That’s what we’ve done so far. When you play against good people…you see who you are.”

This article was originally published on Las Cruces Sun-News: NMSU men’s basketball survives TAMU-CC comeback, wins in final seconds