Mark Rudi

Las Cruces Sun-News

LAS CRUCES – New Mexico State got a much-needed win Sunday. But a scuffle early in the game got six Aggie players and two assistant coaches ejected.

NMSU played with just eight players for a majority of the game, and without four starters, but got an 89-73 win over Bethune-Cookman at the Pan American Center.

The scuffle started four minutes into the game when NMSU senior guard Ian Baker fouled BCU’s Brandon Tabb on a 3-pointer that Tabb made. It looked like Tabb said something to Baker and Baker then shoved Tabb, which caused Aggie players and a few assistant coaches to leave the bench.

Baker was ejected for the shove, while NMSU players Johnathon Wilkins, Eli Chuha, Jalyn Pennie, Marlon Jones and Bollo Gnahore and Aggie assistant coaches Aerick Sanders and Guy Meyer were all ejected for leaving the bench. NCAA rules state that only the head coach can leave the bench and enter the court to stop a fight or prevent escalation. Sanders and Meyer were ejected, despite them just trying to keep NMSU players off the court.

BCU's Quinton Forrest was also ejected.

NMSU head coach Paul Weir was unaware of what the rule is on whether those players and coaches will be suspended for Tuesday night’s game against Nicholls State. The 2016-17 NCAA rule book only states players and coaches will be ejected for leaving the bench and does not mention any suspension. However, if the officials deem Baker’s role in the scuffle as “fighting,” he would likely be suspended a game by the Western Athletic Conference, by what the NCAA rule book says.

“That’s (players leaving the bench) probably an error on my part,” Weir said. “I pride myself on preparation, but have not had a talk with the guys that if anything happens you’re not allowed to leave the bench, as just a reminder. Obviously we had several guys leave the bench. A lot of them are new to Division I basketball that left the bench. They ejected them. I was unaware of a rule that coaches got ejected as well, even if they were trying to keep them off the court. The only issue with the officials was I didn’t think it was overally equitable the way the punishments were kind of handed out. That’s really my understanding on how it went down.”

Weir said he didn’t see the play or what started the scuffle. He said he had Baker’s version of what happened, but didn't want to comment further until he saw the video.

NMSU redshirt sophomore guard Sidy N’Dir said when he played in France, there was a rule that players couldn’t the leave the bench.

“I stayed when I saw the scuffle,” N’Dir said. “I just stayed on the bench because they are probably going to need me and needed everyone else. I tried to tell the other guys to stay on the bench. I guess nobody was aware of that rule.”

N’Dir moved to point guard after Baker was ejected, but N’Dir is very comfortable playing point guard. He's played the point since he started playing basketball. N’Dir also ran the point when Baker was limited in preseason practice with a minor back injury. N’Dir scored a career-high 26 points on 9 of 13 shooting and 2 of 4 from three and added four assists in 32 minutes.

Despite having just eight players the rest of the way, and severely changing normal substitution patterns, especially with the post players, NMSU (3-2) was able to pull away in the first half, going on a 29-6 run in the final nine minutes of the first half to lead 50-29 at the half. The Aggies stayed out of foul trouble and maintained around a 20-point lead in the second half.

NMSU junior Braxton Huggins had the best game of his career with a career-high 28 points on 6 of 9 shooting, 5 of 9 three and 11 of 13 from the free-throw line in 28 minutes. Huggins’ five threes are also a career high and he added five rebounds.

The Aggies at different points had Jermaine Haley, Jemerrio Jones and Matt Taylor playing the center positions.

NMSU redshirt junior center Tanveer Bhullar added six points and seven rebounds in 19 minutes while Las Cruces High School alum Joe Garza scored his first college points, finishing with eight in 15 minutes.

“Unfortunately, all the guys that got off the bench happened to be big men,” Weir said. “We were really left with Tanveer and everybody else. We knew we were going to have to have some guys play some different positions. We kind of talked about it right then and there. We just kind of started rotating some those guys being the next big man up. That was the biggest adjustment we had to make. The guys that were good were the guys who played pretty well. Sidy, Braxton and Joe, the guards kind of stayed in their flow.

“Those (who had to play center) had to sacrifice for the good of the team and did a good job of that too.”

NMSU shot 57.8 percent (26 of 45) and 11 of 18 from three, which are both season highs.

“After the scuffle … we told everyone that we can’t let it affect us,” N’Dir said. “We just grinded through it. We just needed to have more energy and execute all the time. We grinded through it and got the W tonight. It feels good. At the timeout, Paul said ‘nobody is tired. Because we have to grind through it and get that W.' Without (the ejected players), that was a tough game for us.

“We had to push for the fatigue and everything that was going on. We did that for the fans and everybody else.”

Mark Rudi can be reached at 575-541-5455, mrudi@lcsun-news.com or on Twitter @mrudi19.

If you go

What: New Mexico State men’s basketball

Who: Nicholls State (2-2) at NMSU (3-2)

When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.

TV: None

Radio: Zia Country 99.5 FM

Online: NMStateSports.com (Subscription required)