LAS CRUCES, N.M. — It was a new city, but the same old road result for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team in an 87-84 loss to New Mexico State yesterday.

The Aggies shot 50 percent from the field, went 30 of 37 from the free-throw line, and had four players score in double-digits in front of 5,021 at the Pan American Center.

The Aggies rallied from a 12-point deficit in the second half to improve to 7-8 overall and 3-1 in the Western Athletic Conference.

Hawai'i dropped to 8-5 and 2-2, with both losses on this road trip by three points. The 'Bows lost at Louisiana Tech, 65-62, on Thursday.

Hawai'i has now lost 18 of its past 20 road games, including all four this season.

The 'Bows got a career-high 32 points from senior forward Julian Sensley, but it was not enough as the Aggies out-scored Hawai'i 30-8 from the free-throw line.

"Quick beat the bigs tonight," Hawai'i coach Riley Wallace said of NMSU's quickness advantage to his team's size advantage. "We tried to run with them some in the second half and that hurt us. Julian played a solid game. He's played well for us."

The Aggies, who won only six games all of last season, won two straight games for the first time this season.

Forward Tyrone Nelson led the Aggies with 28 points and 11 rebounds. Point guard Elijah Ingram added 21 points, four assists and committed just one turnover. Forward David Fisher added 15 points and guard Mike Mitchell had 11.

"Our intensity was through the roof down the stretch tonight, it was something I haven't seen this season," NMSU coach Reggie Theus said. "We're getting better, our effort is so good right now, it was a good win for us. Different people stepped up for us tonight and that's good to see."

The Aggies trailed 61-49 six minutes into the second half, but an 11-0 run started by a Shon Caston 3-pointer cut the Hawai'i lead to 61-60 with 12:03 remaining.

"We sensed they were getting a little bit tired in the last 12 minutes of the game," Fisher said. "We tried to push the ball as much as we could and we did. We got some easy baskets and got to the foul line."

Sensley then scored seven points during a 9-2 surge that put Hawai'i up 70-62 with 8:51 left.

But during a crucial six-minute stretch, the Aggies went on a 12-0 run to take the lead for good, 74-70, with 2:53 remaining. Nelson scored eight points and Fisher had four to lead the Aggies' key run.

"New Mexico State had a lot of energy down the stretch and that was the difference," Sensley said. "They did some good things down the stretch and we didn't answer them. They are a good team and they executed when they had to. They put some pressure on us and we made some mistakes."

Sensley finished 12 of 21 from the field. The 'Bows shot 55.6 percent from the field and had 22 assists, both season highs.

However, Hawai'i went just 8 of 13 from the free-throw line and was out-rebounded, 34-26.

The 'Bows got 12 points from guard Matt Lojeski and eight apiece from Matthew Gipson, Chris Botez and Ahmet Gueye.

"We did some good things on offense, we have to do a better job on defense," Sensley said.

The Aggies closed out the game by hitting 12 of 14 free throws in the final two minutes.

Sensley scored 16 in the first half to help lead the 'Bows to a 41-40 advantage at intermission.

"You'll see him play at the next level," Theus said of Sensley. "He's very tough to guard and can go inside or outside."

NOTES

The 'Bows are scheduled to return to Honolulu today. Their next game is at home on Saturday against Fresno State.

Sensley's 32 points was the most by a Hawai'i player since Predrag Savovic scored 32 during the 2001-02 season.

It was only the second time since the 2000-01 season that Hawai'i scored at least 80 points and lost. The 'Bows are now 40-2 over the last six seasons when scoring at least 80.