Saturday, March 15th, 9:00 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Pan American Center (13,071) -- Las Cruces, New Mexico. Television: ESPN2. Home Record: BSU 11-5, NMSU 16-3. Away Record: BSU 11-3, NMSU 5-8. Neutral Record: BSU 2-0, NMSU 0-2. Conference Record: BSU 12-4, NMSU 12-4. Series Record: New Mexico State leads, 11-6.

GAME NOTES: The New Mexico State Aggies get the opportunity to defend their Western Athletic Conference Tournament title tonight, as they face off against the Boise State Broncos in the finale of the 25th annual event at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces. The Aggies, who defeated Utah State by just a single basket in last year's championship game, arrived here this time around by defeating Idaho by 20 points in the quarterfinals and then topping second- seeded Nevada on Friday night by a score of 83-75. The third-seeded Aggies are playing on their home floor, so perhaps that has something to do with their success. As for the fourth-seeded Broncos, they were the first to clinch at least a share of the regular-season title in the WAC this year, but were pushed to fourth in the seedings due to the rest of the tie-breaking measures. As a result, the team had to get through Hawaii in the quarters (80-74) and then squeeze out top-seeded Utah State yesterday, 88-78. BSU is still waiting to take home the trophy for the first time, having lost to UTEP in the title game in 2005. As far as the all-time series is concerned, NMSU won both meetings during the regular season giving the team an 11-6 edge over the Broncos.

The Broncos came to play against Utah State on Friday night, as both Reggie Larry and Matt Bauscher dropped in 23 points and combined to shoot 7-of-8 behind the three-point line in the victory. Tyler Tiedeman added 14 points and four assists and Aaron Garner 14 points off the bench as he sank 3-of-4 out on the perimeter. The team as a whole was almost unstoppable from three-point range, converting 11-of-21 opportunities. While he may not be thought of as a three-point threat, Larry has actually made his long-distance shots at an impressive 43.9 percent clip. While that's great every once in a while, he clearly belongs on the inside where he leads the WAC in rebounding with 9.1 boards per game, which in turn contributes to his 19.3 ppg. Although Matt Nelson was rather quiet last night, NMSU cannot forget about him because he brings averages of 15.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game to the table as well.

Despite shooting a woeful 17-of-31 at the free-throw line in the second half and just 21-of-40 for the game, the Aggies still found a way to take care of Nevada in the semifinals on Friday night. Justin Hawkins accounted for a team- best 23 points, Herb Pope had a career game with 18 points and 13 rebounds and Hatila Passos tallied 10 points and eight rebounds of his own to help the squad overcome an awful 3-of-15 shooting effort by Jahmar Young off the bench. The MVP of the title game last season, Hawkins is coming alive at just the right time for the Aggies, now averaging 18.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game for the group. But he is not alone in his offensive endeavors because Jonathan Gibson (12.1 ppg), Fred Peete (10.6 ppg), Passos (10.6 ppg), Young (10.5 ppg) and Pope (10.5 ppg) are all huge factors when it comes to the squad's 79.1 ppg in 2007-08.

As long as Hawkins can neutralize Larry in the paint this is NMSU's game to win, with the nearly-full support of the fans behind the Aggies.

Predicted Outcome

New Mexico State 83, Boise State 78