Jan. 2, 2025, started chaotically for New Mexico State athletics.
It ended with Aggies basketball turning it into a lively evening.
NM State’s athletics program was turned on its head Thursday morning with the firing of former athletic director Mario Moccia. But inside the Pan American Center hours later, you wouldn’t know anything had happened at all.
The arena was rocking like it hadn’t all season, and 3,913 fans tuned in to watch the Aggies take down Sam Houston 75-71 in its conference opener on Thursday evening.
Neither team led by more than four points in the final 11:16 of the game, and two key shots propelled NM State (8-6, 1-0 Conference USA) to a victory. Senior guard first Christian Cook hit a fadeaway from mid-range over multiple Bearkat defenders with 1:14 left to put the Aggies up 69-65. Then with 15 seconds left, fellow senior guard Zawdie Jackson hit an acrobatic and-one floater to send a crowd into a frenzy and all but assure an NM State victory, up 71-67.
The two had opposite games, with Cook lighting up the box score with a team-high 25 points and Jackson only recording six points on 2-for-9 shooting. But when it mattered most, both showed up.
“I cam off a high-ball screen, and I saw (Sam Houston’s Kalifa Sakho) was playing back the whole game, so I knew I could get to the medium,” Cook said of his play. “That’s kind of my shot. I know I can get it any time I want to and I saw the big was all the way back, so he let me take it.”
NM State coach Jason Hooten admitted it wasn’t Jackson’s best night, but praised him for showing poise in crunch time.
“Zawdie is a winner,” Hooten said. “I think Zawdie is gonna play a lot better on Saturday afternoon. But, what can you say? He made a winning play, because he is a winner and a guy that I want on my team.”
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The future of NM State athletics is uncertain, and deputy AD Amber Burdge will try and keep the ship steady as acting AD. But inside Pan American Center, all that mattered was the game and the victory.
And on a tumultuous day, the Aggies feel proud to have euphoria as its lasting image.
“We don’t really want the outside to affect our performance,” said graduate student forward Peter Filipovity, who scored 20 against Sam Houston. “Obviously, we know what happened, but we just have to be positive and just grow what we do.”
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Hooten praises Aggies for overcoming “adversity”
Statistically, the Bearkats (7-7, 0-1) shot better than the Aggies, 44.1% to 41.4%, and won the rebounding battle 31-28. So, why does Hooten think his team won the game?
For him, it’s simple. NM State “handled adversity”.
Hooten mentioned big plays, like Cook and Jackson’s late field goals, and the Aggies’ poise after squandering an eight-point halftime lead to trail multiple times in the game’s last eight minutes. He believes NM State would’ve “lost our confidence” in games like that last season. But this season, Hooten thinks his team has matured to show the toughness needed to win close conference matchups.
“It’s an adversity thing that I think we’re starting to figure out,” Hooten said. “When you play conference games … they’re all going to come down to the last four minutes. I thought our guys did what we needed to do late… and that’s what the best players do, and then we got a couple of stops when we needed them.
“I can’t say enough about how hard we fought against a great team that’s very well-coached (with) great players.”
Thursday was the first time Hooten defeated Sam Houston since departing the school for NM State in 2023. The Bearkats earned a two-game sweep over the Aggies last season.
More: New Mexico State basketball: What the Aggies need as they enter Conference USA play today
Hooten comments on Moccia dismissal
Hooten originally said he wouldn’t comment on Moccia’s dismissal, but later changed his tune.
Hooten is the first NM State coach to speak publicly about Moccia since NMSU president Valerio Ferme announced his dismissal. He was the last basketball coach Moccia hired in his nearly 10-year tenure as the Aggies’ athletic director.
Hooten said he “hadn’t had time to let it sink in yet,” and called Moccia a “friendm” stating that matters to him most more than his professional relationship with him.
Hooten also said he doesn’t want to focus on Moccia at the moment, and wants to soldier his team on through the rest of CUSA play.
“For me, he’s the guy that hired me,” Hooten said. “He’s a friend, and I think sometimes it’s a friend thing more than it is a professional or business thing. And then the other thing is, I think as a coach, you have to (compartmentalize) things. Tonight, my job was to get this basketball team ready to play. I just really hadn’t let it sink in yet and think about things. I don’t have any more comment than that.”
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: New Mexico State basketball rallies past Sam Houston in CUSA opener
