The Denver men’s basketball team played host to Sun Belt Conference foe and West Division rival New Mexico State University Thursday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. in Magness Arena.

Denver entered the game having dropped its last two contests on Jan. 23 and 25 against South Alabama and New Orleans respectively. The NMSU Aggies entered the contest having won four of their last five.

After leading the first half 37-38 and spending the first 8 minutes of the second half nursing a two possession lead, the Pioneers finally managed to put some distance between themselves and NMSU on a 3-pointer by B.J. Pratt.

Still NMSU came back behind an 11-2 run – led by six points from Jason Fontenet and a game clinching three pointer by Alan Hayes. Hayes’ steal on the next possesion led to two free-throws by Fontenet and a three point lead for NMSU.

The Pioneers lost the last meeting 68-62 in Las Cruces, N.M. on January 24 of last season, but Pratt scored a game-high 20 points in that game.

The team relied on Pratt again. Pratt has scored 1,481 points and is third all-time despite beginning the year 13th on the all-time list.

He combined with Erik Benzel led the Pioneers in scoring, with 45 points, but neither could save DU’s chances to win.

The Thursday game was the fifth game the two teams have played as conference rivals and the fifth straight loss to NMSU since 2000. The Pioneers have not beaten the Aggies since Jan. 22, 1966.

This is the first loss Denver has had at home this season.