ERST LESEN! » 23 points on 9-o

TEMPE, Ariz. -- New Mexico State looks ready to defend its WAC regular season championship after Saturdays momentous win over Arizona State of the Pac-12.Braxton Huggins scored 24 points and Ian Baker added 19 with eight assists and seven rebounds to lead the Aggies to an 81-70 win over the Sun Devils.Huggins knocked down a season-high six 3-pointers and Baker had season highs in assists and rebounds. Eli Chuha scored 13 points and grabbed 11 boards for the Aggies, who won their eighth straight and got their first true road win over a Power Five conference team since the 1994-95 season.Any chance you get to play a Pac-12 team, its a big moment for us, Aggies coach Paul Weir said. We felt if we came in and played well we would have a shot and fortunately we were able to come out with a victory against a very good basketball team.The Sun Devils (6-5) suffered through a poor second half of shooting, making just 10 of 33 shots, and coach Bobby Hurley was ejected with two technical fouls midway through the half.Obinna Oleka led ASU with 15 points and 11 rebounds. The Sun Devils had eight scholarship players available and all played.The Aggies (10-2) led by as many as 10 points in the first half, with Huggins making four of the teams eight first-half 3-pointers. He had 14 points at halftime.We just tried to run in transition and get everybody open looks, Huggins said. My teammates did a good job of passing me the ball when I was open.Arizona State trailed 29-22 midway through the half, then went on a 10-0 run. Kodi Justice hustled to save the ball from going out of bounds at one end, then made a spinning floater at the other to make the score 29-28 with 8:38 to go.That energized the crowd, and it rose to its feet seconds later when Shannon Evans II dove for a loose ball and tapped it to Torian Graham for a fast break dunk to put the Sun Devils in front.The lead changed hands until Jermaine Haley hit a corner 3 with four seconds left to give the Aggies a 40-38 halftime lead.Early in the game we had issues getting stops, and our offense was kind of just able to keep us going, Weir said.The Sun Devils didnt score for more than four minutes to start the second half and the Aggies built the lead to 55-45 on a Johnathon Wilkins jumper with 12:28 to play.They outhustled us, outplayed us, they wanted it more and we were relaxed and lackadaisical, Evans said.Hurley picked up his second technical and was ejected at the 9:47 mark, at which point the Aggies led 62-47.I wish I could have congratulated them for the game they played, Hurley said.BIG PICTURENew Mexico State: The Aggies head home to Las Cruces, N.M., for their next three games, including one on Dec. 30 against UTEP in the Battle of I-10 series, the second meeting of the month between the teams. Those three games are the final non-conference contests before WAC play opens in January.Arizona State: ASU on Saturday started a three-game homestead which includes No. 10 Creightons visit to Tempe on Dec. 20. Creighton will be third top-20 team the Sun Devils face in the non-conference season.TIP-INSNew Mexico State: The Aggies were given a technical foul right before tipoff for not submitting their starting lineup by the deadline of 10 minutes prior to the start of the game. Weir called it an issue with the scorebook. ... Haley went down early in the second half and limped off the court. He got his left ankle taped and went back to the locker room, returning to the bench moments later and eventually back into action.Arizona State: The Sun Devils played their first game without highly-touted freshman Sam Cunliffe, who left the program after the teams game at San Diego State last Saturday. He was averaging 9.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game and had started all 10. ... Justice appeared to take a shot to the face in the first half and left the court with a trainer, but returned quickly and continued to play.COURTSIDE VIEWPro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Andre Reed attended Saturdays game and had courtside seats.UP NEXTNew Mexico State: Hosts UC-Irvine on Monday night. The Aggies 16-game home win streak is on the line.Arizona State: Hosts No. 10 and unbeaten Creighton on Tuesday night. Creighton will be the highest ranked non-conference team to play at ASU since Dec. 20, 1980, when ASU hosted No. 7 Ohio State. Custom New York Mets Jerseys . -- Teemu Selanne scored the first goal of his 22nd NHL season, and the Anaheim Ducks extended the best start in franchise history with their fifth straight victory, 3-2 over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. New York Mets Pro Shop . The 25-year-old Japanese star has officially been posted by his club team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles. https://www.cheapmetsjerseys.us/ .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Anton Khudobin on injured reserve with an unspecified lower-body injury. New York Mets Gear . Already owning gold from competition in Vancouver in 2010, Loch posted a combined four-run time of 3:27.526. That included a track-record third run of 51. New York Mets Store . The 26-year-old Ireland striker, who has four goals this season, has signed a three-and-a-half year contract with his new club. CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- On the first day of workouts, new Memphis Grizzlies coach David Fizdale approached point guard Mike Conley and told him he wanted him to be more aggressive scoring the ball this season.Thats all Conley needed to hear.The 10-year NBA veteran continued his high level of play Monday night, scoring 31 points as the Memphis Grizzlies got off to a fast start and defeated the Charlotte Hornets 105-90 for their fifth straight win.Conley came in averaging a career-high 18.3 points per game. He had five 3-pointers and shot 11 of 21 from the field, including a long 3 with 4 minutes left that thwarted Charlottes fourth-quarter rally and sent the crowd streaming toward the exits.He wanted me to be much more aggressive, Conley said of Fizdale. I believe Im one of the better point guards in the league and he does, too. Hes given me the opportunity to go out there and show it.Marc Gasol was dominant in the first half and finished with 13 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.The Grizzlies controlled the tempo from the start, jumping out to a 16-4 lead. They pushed their advantage to 24 at halftime, shooting 58 percent from the field, including 10 of 16 from 3-point range.It started with our defense, Fizdale said. Our guys are really taking pride in trying to build a championship defense. We all know the saying. Theyre really digging in and really taking it to heart that we have to get stops. We also said our defense will travel. And it traveled tonight and it led to being unselfish on the offensive end.The Hornets simply had no early answer for Gasol, who controlled the game with his shooting and passing.Gasol had 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the first half along with seven assists and six rebounds. He repeatedly got Roy Hibbert off his feet with pump fakes near the top of the key, drove the lane and either scored or set up teammates with easy shots.We didnt have the readiness we need to play against a good team and they jumped on us, Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. Frankly that is two games in a row that we didnt play like the same team that got to 8-3. Thats part of learning annd evolving into the team I think we can be.dddddddddddd Its a long season and everyone is going to have nights like this.TIP-INSGrizzlies: Tony Allen was listed as questionable with a groin injury, but looked just fine and finished with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting.Hornets: Cody Zeller missed his second straight game with a shoulder injury. Zeller is day to day but is still having trouble lifting his arm. ... Hornets owner Michael Jordan, who will receive the Presidential Medal of Honor on Tuesday, sat courtside.FRANK THE TANK HURTFrank Kaminsky turned in perhaps his best game as a pro for Charlotte, tying a career high with 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting. But his night ended badly when he left with less than 3 minutes to play with a sprained left ankle. Clifford said he wasnt sure the extent of the injury.STREAK IS OVERKemba Walker had 17 points for the Hornets, snapping a string of 11 straight games with 20 or more.NEW ORLEANS HANGOVERCharlottes Nic Batum and Marvin Williams were a combined 2 of 13 from the field, and the Hornets missed 11 of 31 free throws in losing their second straight game. Batum suggested the Hornets were still dwelling on coughing up a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter and losing to New Orleans last weekend.We had no energy, Batum said. We didnt get into this game. It might be a hangover from New Orleans because it was a tough one for us. I think we thought about that game too much tonight.GRITTY GRIZZLIESFizdale wasnt thrilled with his teams defense in the second half -- and he let the players know it.We got casual, Fizdale said. We got cool. I said, `Guys, were from Memphis. Theres nothing cool about us. Were gritty. We couldnt lose that edge. They knew exactly what I meant and we got our bearings back.UP NEXTGrizzlies: They look to make it six straight wins when they visit the 76ers in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.Hornets: Things arent going to get any easier for the Hornets, who host the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night. ' ' '