LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The Samford men's basketball team went across the country to face the New Mexico State Aggies on the road tonight. The Bulldogs held a lead near the halfway point of the opening half before the home side took control of the game and defeated Samford 81-72. Samford falls to 3-4 on the season while the Aggies move to 4-0.

After playing a home game against FGCU on Wednesday night, the Dogs traveled to New Mexico to play just 48 hours later against an undefeated Aggies side. It was apparent early that the NMSU defensive strategy was to take away Samford's leading scorer, Jadin Booth, as they denied him the ball throughout the night. For the first nine minutes of the game, the Bulldogs were ahead and had balanced offense as seven different players scored in the first half. Zion Wilburn got the start and responded with seven points while Kam Martin played his best game in a Samford uniform with seven points off the bench in the first 20 minutes.

The Bulldogs shot the ball well from inside the arc, going 9-of-13 in the half but just 4-of-14 from deep. The home side shot 58 percent from the floor as they began to open up a lead as the half went on. NMSU won the battle on the boards 19-9 in the half and 37-29 for the game as they led 40-32 at the break. 

Starting point guard Keaton Norris was only able to go for 14 minutes tonight. In his stead, Isaiah Campbell-Finch was thrust into a larger role, scoring eight points off the bench. Samford's top three scorers, Booth, Norris, and Dylan Faulkner, who average 46 points per game, combined to score just 13 points tonight on 5-of-18 shooting. Cade Norris was solid with eight points on the night and Jaxon Pollard was strong off the bench with nine points and five rebounds. But it was primarily Wilburn who finished with 15 points and Kam Martin who had a season-best and game-high 17 points.

The Aggies came out on a quick run in the second half and pushed the lead to 21 points at its most with 10 minutes remaining. The Dogs showed fight until the end, cutting the deficit to just seven points with a minute remaining, but never were able to truly threaten the home side late with more game pressure.

Samford struggled from the field in the second half, shooting 33 percent overall and 25 percent from three. They got back into the game late by driving aggressively to the basket and getting to the foul line where they converted on 14-of-18 attempts. The Aggies shot 54 percent on the night, the fourth time out of seven games that the Bulldogs have surrendered over 50 percent shooting to their opponents. Facing aggeessive man-to-man defense, the Dogs took care of the ball as they turned it over just three times.

The Bulldogs finally get a small break before they return to action again. They travel to Cancun, Mexico, where they will face Georgia State on Tuesday and Utah Valley on Wednesday. The Panthers were 1-4 on the season entering tonight, while UVU is 3-2 on the year.

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