• Game score: New Mexico State - 83, Arizona Christian - 77
• Records: Arizona Christian - exhibition, New Mexico State - 1-0
• NAIA Top 25 ranking: Arizona Christian - 9, New Mexico State - NCAA DI
• Location: ACU Events Center, Arizona Christian University, Glendale, AZ

• Angelo Johnson - 26 points, 6 assists
• De'Ron Kyle - 16 points
• Dominic Gonzalez - 16 points
• Robby Wilson - 14 points

• NMSU (playing first game since March) and ACU (hyped about DI school) both committed two turnovers on their first three possessions
• After a three pointer by Wilson gave ACU a 5-2 edge, NMSU answered with an 11-0 run to move ahead the rest of the first half
• Up five at the break, the Aggies extended out to a 12 point lead two and a half minutes into the second half
• Behind eight with 10 minutes to go, Johnson went a personal 14-6 run to force a tie, move ACU in front, and force another tie
• Gonzalez scored seven of the next nine ACU points
• Kyle delivered the final Firestorm points including a three pointer with a minute to play for a 77-76 advantage
• The Aggies scored the last seven points

Thoughts from Coach Rutter

"I am really proud of how hard our guys played tonight.  We were a little tentative to start the game.  New Mexico State is so long and disciplined defensively.  We talked about how patient we would need to be offensively, but I think we needed to see it in person and struggle a little before we really understood that.  We really battled defensively and did a nice rebounding the ball in the first half, that kept us close until we made a couple shots and gained some confidence." 

"We did not do a very good job blocking out to start the second half.  New Mexico State did a good job crashing and created a lot of easy opportunities for themselves.  They took 11 more shots in the seconds half.  That obviously cannot happen against a great team like that.  It felt like they were on the verge of breaking it open, but we had several guys step up and make huge plays to cut into their lead."

"I thought AJ and Robbie were fantastic tonight!  They did a good job defensively on De'Ron, he did not have many easy opportunities, but he made some huge plays down the stretch.  Dominic continues to impress; he played really well tonight and was really poised."

"We did a nice job of taking care of the ball tonight and I am really proud of the fight our guys displayed." 

"I really appreciate New Mexico State and their staff giving us this game.  We have five games under our belt and that came to our home court to play.  That just does not happen outside a "COVID" year.  Was a great experience for our team."