Texas Tech Athletics
New Mexico State
Red Raiders Beat New Mexico State 81-80 In OT
November 28, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Nov 28, 2001
By PETE HERRERA
AP Sports Writer
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - Bob Knight needed only a few words to get his message across to Texas Tech guard Will Chavis.
Chavis hit the second of two free throws with 3 seconds left in overtime Wednesday night as Texas Tech gave Knight another win over longtime rival Lou Henson with an 81-80 victory over New Mexico State.
Chavis missed the first free throw, the ball bouncing off the back of the rim. New Mexico State tried to further ice Chavis by calling a timeout, giving Knight a chance to offer Chavis some advice.
"Make the last one, don't miss it," Knight told him.
He didn't.
"I was thinking I was going to make it," Chavis said. "We fought so hard, I felt like I would let my teammates down if I had missed it."
Not to mention Knight, who at times buried his head in his hands when the Red Raiders missed several free throws in the first half.
The Red Raiders (5-1) rallied from a 72-66 deficit in the final 2 minutes of regulation, then traded baskets with the Aggies until Chavis was fouled by Dennis Trammell as Tech went for the last shot.
"We wanted to run the clock down to about 10 seconds," said Tech center Andy Ellis, who led the Red Raiders with 28 points. "We didn't want them to have time to take a shot. Will did a good job of penetrating and got fouled."
Chavis, who dribbled away most of the final 33 seconds before driving inside the lane, was long with his first free throw. But he regrouped during the timeout and hit nothing but net with his second foul shot.
New Mexico State (3-1) had a chance to win it, but Eric Channing's 15-foot jumper from the baseline bounced off the rim.
"I shot it the best I could," Channing said. "I felt like I rushed it a little and it just didn't fall."
Channing, the Aggies' leading scorer, had trouble getting free for shots against Tech's swarming man-to-man defense. He got off only four shots in the first half and hit three of them.
"Our guys did a good job containing him until the second half," Knight said.
The game marked the first time that Knight and Henson coached against each other since the 1995-96 season, when Knight was still at Indiana and Henson was in his 21st and final season at Illinois. Henson came out of retirement a year later to take over the New Mexico State program after Neil McCarthy was ousted.
Channing and Trammell, who led a late second half rally by the Aggies that erased a nine-point Tech lead, also had a chance to win it in regulation, but both missed 3-pointers in the final 2 seconds.
Andy Ellis scored 28 points to lead Texas Tech. Kasib Powell added 17 and Chavis 16. Ellis hit 11 of 19 shots and had a key defensive play when he blocked a short jumper by Channing with 30 seconds left in regulation and the Aggies up 72-70.
"Channing did the right thing going to the basket," Henson said. "He expected to get fouled and Ellis just made a great block."
Channing and Brandon Mason each scored 16 for New Mexico State. Trammell added 13, all in the final 7 minutes of regulation and overtime.
Trammell hit a pair of 3-pointers to spark a 9-0 run by the Aggies that erased a 56-48 Tech lead with 8:00 left. Trammell's second 3-pointer put New Mexico State up 57-56 and his layup with 2:11 left gave the Aggies their biggest lead at 72-66.
Neither team was especially sharp, with Texas Tech committing 18 turnovers and the Aggies 14, 11 in the first half.
Knight, wearing a black sweater over a red shirt and his familiar scowl, was greeted by boos when he walked onto the court before the game. Again, he was a big draw, with the crowd of 12,517 the largest for a New Mexico State home game in seven years.
The win gave Knight a 28-15 edge over Henson, and Knight said he'd be happy to keep the transplanted rivalry with Henson going.
"I hope we get to play this game every year," he said.
