February 9, 1999
SAN DIEGO (AP)- Kevin Henry scored 14 of his 23 points in a 27-5 run to close the first half and No. 25 New Mexico beat San Diego State 85-60 Monday night, sending the Aztecs to their ninth straight loss.
Kenny Thomas scored 21 of his game-high 28 points in the second half and the Lobos won for just the second time in six games. New Mexico (18-6, 5-4 Western Athletic Conference) fell eight places in this week's AP poll after an 18-point home loss to Utah on Feb. 1 and an overtime loss at Hawaii on Saturday night.
San Diego State dropped to 2-19 and 0-9, its worst showing since 1991-92 when it finished 2-26.
The Lobos beat the Aztecs by 30 points on Jan. 7 at Albuquerque.
Henry finished with six 3-pointers, including three during the decisive first-half run.
San Diego State, which starts two freshmen and a sophomore, made a game of it for the first 10 minutes, even taking a 22-14 lead as New Mexico went cold from the field.
But Henry hit a 3-pointer with 8:40 left and followed with another one to help the Lobos quickly catch up. Henry's 20-foot jumper gave New Mexico a 25-24 lead with 6:01 left in the half, and, after a tip-in by San Diego State's Myron Epps, the Lobos started pulling away on Kenny Thomas' three-point play and Lamont Long's long-distance 3-pointer.
Henry added another 3-point shot, and his three-point play ended the half with New Mexico leading 41-27.
Thomas made two quick baskets opening the second half to push the lead to 45-27.
Long had 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the Lobos, who shot 57 percent and made 9 of 22 3-pointers.
Matt Watts added 15 and Donte Wilson 10.