Saturday, March 8th, 9:00 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Pan American Center (12,482) -- Las Cruces, New Mexico. Television: None. Home Record: Hawaii 9-9, NMSU 13-3. Away Record: Hawaii 2-8, NMSU 5-8. Neutral Record: Hawaii 0-0, NMSU 0-2. Conference Record: Hawaii 7-8, NMSU 11-4. Series Record: New Mexico State leads, 6-2.

GAME NOTES: Tied with two other teams for second place in the Western Athletic Conference standings, the New Mexico State Aggies close out the regular season tonight with a date against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors inside the Pan American Center in Las Cruces. NMSU has a conference mark of 11-4 heading into the weekend, the same record produced by both Nevada and Utah State with a game to play. Since the start of February, the Aggies have been a hard team to hold down with seven wins in eight tries. the squad posted an 88-65 win over San Jose State at home on Thursday night to stay close to the top of the standings. As for the Warriors, in their first year under new head coach Bob Nash, they've hit the skids at the wrong time. A 69-62 setback to Louisiana Tech two nights ago out on the island was the team's fifth in a row, and now has the Warriors fifth in the WAC standings at 7-8. With respect to the all- time series between these two schools on the hardwood, the Aggies hold a 6-2 edge, but it was the Warriors who picked up the 94-71 victory in the last meeting at the end of January in Honolulu.

If the Warriors possibly thought they might be able to get by the worst team in the WAC, they were sorely wrong yet again. Matt Gibson scored 22 points for the visitors, but he also turned the ball over eight times before fouling out. Bill Amis chipped in with 14 points and six rebounds, while Riley Luettgerodt posted another 10 points. More telling than turning the ball over 20 times was the fact that the Bulldogs outscored the visitors at the charity stripe, 30-15. Matt Gibson has had to make up for lost time when he was held out of the lineup and the persistence has paid off with him leading the team in scoring with 17.0 ppg and also being the leader in terms of assists with 115. The good son, Bobby Nash made himself available to whatever the coaching staff asked of him.

Of the 12 players that saw action for the Aggies in the win over San Jose State, only one of them failed to score, with as many as five players scoring in double figures for good measure, Justin Hawkins accounted for 18 points, Herb Pope tacked on 12 points and cleared nine rebounds, followed by Jahmar Young with 11 points in 21 minutes off the bench. Not to be ignored were Jonathan Gibson and Wendell McKines and their 10 point offerings, Hawkins has been the top scorer and the best rebounder for the team this season with an average of 17 points per outing and an even seven rebounds per contest as well. Jonathan Gibson sprouts up with 12.4 ppg, based on his 42.4 percent three-point shooting.

Only three teams have managed to break through against the Aggies at the Pan American Center this season, and with as badly the Warriors have been playing of late, it doesn't seem as though anything will change.

Predicted Outcome

New Mexico State 78, Hawaii 68