Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Thursday, January 30
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
6:30 p.m.
Middle Tennessee
57
vs
61
New Mexico State
Middle Tennessee unable to pull off late comeback in 61-57 loss to NMSU
1/30/2025 10:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. –In the midst of perhaps its toughest part of the Conference USA schedule, the New Mexico State Aggies (12-9, 5-3 CUSA) snapped a three-game conference losing streak by giving Middle Tennessee (14-7, 5-3 CUSA) it's second loss of the season in the Murphy Center by a score of 61-57.
The Blue Raiders struggled to score in the first half, going 11-of-28 from the field including just 3-of-17 from distance. At the half, Jestin Porter and Camryn Weston paced Middle Tennessee in scoring with seven points apiece. Sophomore Chris Loofe, who made his first career start, grabbed five rebounds in the first half and had three blocked shots.
New Mexico State got a bulk of its points down low in the first half, outscoring Middle Tennessee 26-10 in that department. The Aggies leading scorer, Peter Filipovity, led New Mexico State in scoring at the break with a game-high 12 points to go with seven rebounds. Senior guard Diontae Bostick had six points and four rebounds to help the Aggies to a 35-26 first-half advantage.
The Aggies continued to also try to push the envelope by attacking the Blue Raiders down low, finishing the battle near the basket over the Blue Raiders 42-22 at the end of the night. NMSU also had 16 second-chance points and had multiple runs of three-plus minutes throughout the night where they didn't allow a Blue Raider point. Robert Carpenter finished as the leading scorer for New Mexico State with 16 points to go with seven rebounds.
Middle Tennessee was able to trim the lead to single digits multiple times in the second half, reducing the margin to as little as two points with less than 15 seconds to play after trailing by as much as 12 points in the second half with over 7:00 to play.
Playing with four fouls, Weston came off the bench with the Blue Raiders down nine points with just over six minutes left and gave Middle Tennessee a shot in the arm, scoring five straight points to get it back to a 59-57 game down the stretch.
Unfortunately for the Blue Raiders, they were unable to score in the final 3:51 seconds on the highest-rated defensive team in Conference USA to close out the game. Weston finished the night as the game's leading scorer with 19 points and had six boards and fellow guard Porter had 14 points with three assists.
By the Numbers:
1: Sophomore Chris Loofe made his first career start tonight.
9, 4: Career-high in rebounds and blocks for Chris Loofe
6: Games this season in which Camryn Weston has scored 15-plus points off the bench
McDevitt's Mic:
"(New Mexico State) is tough and they play with a fiery intensity," said Middle Tennessee Head Coach Nick McDevitt. "Jason (Hooten) does a great job of pulling that out of his group. He's an intense guy and their team plays with emotion and physicality. They were really good on the glass and the second chance points were plus-13 in their favor and points in the paint were plus-20 in their favor. I thought we had some key moments down the stretch to give us the lead. Over about six or seven possessions, we turned it over four times. When we didn't, we missed some buckets. We had a good look with Jestin Porter taking a three that would've given us a one-point lead and Jlynn (Counter) missed one in front of our bench that would've given us a lead and missed an important one-and-one that could've tied it."
Up next: A battle of two of the top teams in CUSA between the Blue Raiders and UTEP Miners is set for Saturday at 2:00 p.m. from the Murphy Center. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and can be heard on WGNS Radio.
Follow Middle Tennessee Men's Basketball on social media on Facebook (/MTMensBasketball), Twitter (@MT_MBB) and Instagram (@mt_mbb).
The Blue Raiders struggled to score in the first half, going 11-of-28 from the field including just 3-of-17 from distance. At the half, Jestin Porter and Camryn Weston paced Middle Tennessee in scoring with seven points apiece. Sophomore Chris Loofe, who made his first career start, grabbed five rebounds in the first half and had three blocked shots.
New Mexico State got a bulk of its points down low in the first half, outscoring Middle Tennessee 26-10 in that department. The Aggies leading scorer, Peter Filipovity, led New Mexico State in scoring at the break with a game-high 12 points to go with seven rebounds. Senior guard Diontae Bostick had six points and four rebounds to help the Aggies to a 35-26 first-half advantage.
The Aggies continued to also try to push the envelope by attacking the Blue Raiders down low, finishing the battle near the basket over the Blue Raiders 42-22 at the end of the night. NMSU also had 16 second-chance points and had multiple runs of three-plus minutes throughout the night where they didn't allow a Blue Raider point. Robert Carpenter finished as the leading scorer for New Mexico State with 16 points to go with seven rebounds.
Middle Tennessee was able to trim the lead to single digits multiple times in the second half, reducing the margin to as little as two points with less than 15 seconds to play after trailing by as much as 12 points in the second half with over 7:00 to play.
Playing with four fouls, Weston came off the bench with the Blue Raiders down nine points with just over six minutes left and gave Middle Tennessee a shot in the arm, scoring five straight points to get it back to a 59-57 game down the stretch.
Unfortunately for the Blue Raiders, they were unable to score in the final 3:51 seconds on the highest-rated defensive team in Conference USA to close out the game. Weston finished the night as the game's leading scorer with 19 points and had six boards and fellow guard Porter had 14 points with three assists.
By the Numbers:
1: Sophomore Chris Loofe made his first career start tonight.
9, 4: Career-high in rebounds and blocks for Chris Loofe
6: Games this season in which Camryn Weston has scored 15-plus points off the bench
McDevitt's Mic:
"(New Mexico State) is tough and they play with a fiery intensity," said Middle Tennessee Head Coach Nick McDevitt. "Jason (Hooten) does a great job of pulling that out of his group. He's an intense guy and their team plays with emotion and physicality. They were really good on the glass and the second chance points were plus-13 in their favor and points in the paint were plus-20 in their favor. I thought we had some key moments down the stretch to give us the lead. Over about six or seven possessions, we turned it over four times. When we didn't, we missed some buckets. We had a good look with Jestin Porter taking a three that would've given us a one-point lead and Jlynn (Counter) missed one in front of our bench that would've given us a lead and missed an important one-and-one that could've tied it."
Up next: A battle of two of the top teams in CUSA between the Blue Raiders and UTEP Miners is set for Saturday at 2:00 p.m. from the Murphy Center. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and can be heard on WGNS Radio.
Follow Middle Tennessee Men's Basketball on social media on Facebook (/MTMensBasketball), Twitter (@MT_MBB) and Instagram (@mt_mbb).
Players Mentioned
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