After a 61-year hiatus, NM State (6-5, 0-0 WAC) made its return to the Sun Bowl Invitational against Kent St. (9-3, 0-0 MAC) on Wednesday evening. Despite leading the Golden Flashes in rebounds and shooting percentage, the Aggies fell 73-63.
The Aggies return to El Paso for the second game of the invitational, which tips off at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 22, at the Don Haskins Center on the UTEP campus. NM State will play North Carolina A&T, which lost 75-62 Wednesday to UTEP, which will play Kent State in the 8 p.m. game.
In terms of scoring Wednesday, the Aggies were led by Issa Muhammad who finished the night with 17 points while also pulling down 10 rebounds to record his first double-double as an Aggie. DaJuan Gordon also turned in a solid performance – finishing with 15 points, seven boards and a pair of assists. Deshawndre Washington was the third and final member of the Aggies to post double digits as he scored 14 points.