January 8, 1999
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - An ailing Kenny Thomas scored 22 points and tied his career-high with seven blocks as No. 15 New Mexico beat San Diego State 90-60 Thursday night.
Thomas, plagued by a sinus headache the past two days, started slowly with four first-half turnovers but dominated the second half as New Mexico (13-2, 1-1 WAC) beat the Aztecs (2-11, 0-1) in Albuquerque for the 14th straight time. San Diego State's last win in The Pit was on Feb. 11, 1984.
San Diego State, with six freshmen on its squad and without leading scorer Matt Watts, never led and saw the Lobos' lead steadily climb after New Mexico went on an 11-2 run to open up a 21-9 lead with 11:28 left in the first half.
That run was led by reserve forward Roland Hannah, who scored eight of his 12 points in the first half. Over the past three games, he is 16-of-23 from the field with 40 points.
New Mexico led 10-9 when Hannah entered the game. Over the next four minutes, he scored off an offensive rebound and hit an 18-footer while Thomas hit a 3-pointer and Greg Davis and John Robinson also scored on short jumpers.
New Mexico led 42-27 at halftime, then outscored the Aztecs 11-2 over the first four minutes of the second half during which Thomas had three blocks.
Freshman guard David Abramowitz scored 18 points for San Diego State and Donte Wilson added 15. Watts, averaging 13.6 points per game, missed the game in order to make up some classwork.
Thomas grabbed 12 rebounds as New Mexico outrebounded the Aztecs 46-27.