New Mexico St. Struggles to 70-66 Win Over UC Irvine

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — New Mexico State installed a new $55,000 parquet floor in the Pan American Center this week, but neither team on the court Thursday night bore any resemblance to the Boston Celtics.

New Mexico State came away with a 70-66 Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. victory over UC Irvine in a game that was, well, less than artistic.

Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan: “Both teams appeared to be more than a little bit sluggish.”

Aggie Coach Neil McCarthy: “They can’t all be masterpieces. We’ll take the win.”

New Mexico State (13-13 overall, 8-7 in the PCAA) has won six of its last seven games and is alone in second place behind No. 1-ranked Nevada Las Vegas. The Anteaters (12-13, 7-9) have dropped five of their last six and are in eighth place.

Irvine’s top scorers--guard Scott Brooks (averaging 23 points per game) and center Wayne Engelstad (averaging 16)--looked more like they were playing on Parkay than parquet. They combined for only 13 points and together made just 4 of 24 field-goal attempts.

Brooks, who leads the conference in three-point baskets per game (3.9), was 2 of 8 from outside the three-point stripe and finished with just eight points. And Engelstad was 1 of 12 from the floor.

Guard Kenny Travis led the Aggies with 17 points.

For Irvine, Joe Buchanan, returning from an undiagnosed stomach ailment that had sidelined him for 10 games, played 21 minutes and scored 10 points. And junior forward Frank Woods played one of his best games of the season, scoring 21 points and hitting 9 of 13 from the floor.

Woods put Irvine in a position to get back in the game, scoring five straight points in a two-minute span that cut the Aggie lead from 66-59 to 66-64 with 2:36 to play. But he was called for traveling twice in the final two minutes.