Box Score

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The University of Hawai`i men's basketball team closed out its regular season with a 106-71 loss to New Mexico State on Saturday night at the Pan American Center. UH dropped to 11-18 overall and finished Western Athletic Conference play at 7-9 with its sixth straight loss.

New Mexico State (19-13, 12-4 WAC) avenged a 23-point loss to UH earlier this season, while capturing a share of it is first-ever WAC regular-season title. The Aggies ended WAC play in a four-way tie for first with Boise State, Nevada and Utah State.

UH finished in fifth place and will play Boise State, which gained the No. 4 seed after the conference tie-breaker, in the first quarterfinal game of WAC Tournament on Thursday, March 13. Tipoff is at noon MDT (8:00 a.m. HT).

Justin Hawkins scored a career-high 37 points and added 10 rebounds to lead the Aggie rout and hand Hawai`i its largest margin of defeat this year. Martin Iti also added a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Four other players finished in double-figures for the Aggies who finished with the highest point total by a UH opponent since a 126-point outburst by TCU in 1998.

Riley Luettgerodt led Hawai`i with a career-high 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting, including 4-of-6 from three-point range. Matt Gibson added 16 points and five assists. The rest of the team struggled, however, shooting a combined 9-of-38 from the floor (24 percent).

UH hung close early and the game was tied 8-8 four minutes in. But that's when the Aggies switched it into another gear. NMSU out-scored UH, 32-8, over the next 11 minutes to take a 40-16 lead. Hawkins scored 21 of his points in the first half and the Aggies shot 63 percent to take a 50-29 lead at the break.

It didn't get any better in the second half as the Aggies built their lead to as many 39 points. NMSU, which has won eight of its last nine games, shot 51 percent for the game, out-scored UH 56-14 in the paint and dominated the boards with a 65-29 advantage.

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