Nov. 14, 2006

Final Stats

Las Cruces, N.M. - The Pacific men's basketball team dropped a 76-74, contest on the road at New Mexico State on Tuesday, November 14. The loss dropped the Tigers to 1-1 overall while the Aggies improved to 1-0.

In the loss, freshman C.J. Morgan (Elk Grove, Calif.) posted a career-high 23 points. Sophomores Anthony Brown (Sacramento, Calif.) and Steffan Johnson (Kent, Wash.) added 14 points and 13 points, respectively.

The Tigers led by as many as six points in the first half, but trailed 38-37 at the intermission. Johnson scored all 13 of his points in the first 20 minutes, while Brown scored 12 of his 14 in the first frame.

After the Tigers cut a six point lead to 48-46 with 13:47 left in the game, New Mexico State went on a 10-3 run to take a nine point lead with 10:07 remaining (58-49). Pacific came back with a 9-0 run to take a 67-66 lead with 3:27 left in the contest. Morgan scored seven of Pacific's nine points in that run.

Morgan hit 8-of-10 shots from the field, 5-of-6 from three-point range. He had 20 points in the second half, scoring more than half of the Tigers' 37 points.

The Aggies took advantage of four Pacific turnovers in the final four minutes to take control and seal the victory. The Tigers had 22 turnovers in the game. With the Tigers down five at the end of the game, senior Wolfgang Raffety (Placerville, Calif.) hit a three-pointer to bring the Tigers back within two points with less than a second left.

Fred Peete had 19 points to lead New Mexico State.

The Tigers will next be in action at the Great Alaska Shootout when they take on Missouri-Kansas City in the opening round on November 22. The tip-off is scheduled for 9:45 pm (AT).