Even in an alumni basketball game, there is no love lost between New Mexico and New Mexico State.
The inaugural Battle of the Rio Grande Alumni match showcased plenty of the physical play and edginess that a regular season contest between UNM and NMSU usually has. UNM battled through the choppy play to claim a 102-97 victory over NMSU at WisePies Arena aka The Pit Saturday night.
J.R. Giddens, who took home MVP for the Lobos, said he wasn’t surprised by the physicality of the game.
“I thought it was going to be a little nasty at some point during the game,” he said. “It was a fun game and I’m glad we won. It was a great experience.”
NMSU MVP Wendell McKines said that’s what happens when two long-time rivals meet up again.
“As soon as we came down the fans start booing us. It is a legit rivalry,” he said. “It’s going to be like that. It’s a fight. It’s a war.”
The second half of the game is when things started to pick up. NMSU started its comeback in the middle of the latter half, which prompted the crowd to start a “Let’s Go Aggies” chant.
The Aggies took their first lead of the game 72-71 on a Jonathan Gibson 3-pointer that capped an 11-2 run by NMSU with less than 12 minutes in regulation. For the next several minutes it became a back-and-forth affair with each team matching shots against each other.
UNM retook the lead for good thanks to a pair of Alex Kirk free throws, but a couple of deep 3-pointers from Roman Martinez helped put NMSU away for good.
“Based on our rivalry we knew it was going to be that type of game at the end of the game,” Cameron Bairstow said. “I was surprised how early it caught on. The Aggies came out with that edge.”
Giddens earned MVP status with 20 points on 7 of 19 shooting with seven boards. McKines had a double-double with 26 points and 18 boards, hitting 10 of 18 attempts for his MVP.
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