Aggies win WAC Opener

Martin Iti scored 14 points as New Mexico State extended its win streak to 10 Thursday night with a 92-86 victory over Hawaii to open Western Athletic Conference play.

Iti scored 10 of his points in the second half, all except one coming on dunks. Justin Hawkins added 18 points for the Aggies (11-3, 1-0 WAC), who have now won 13 consecutive home games dating back to last season.

The game went back & forth with lead had changed nine times before NMSU took the advantage for good following Iti's third dunk in as many minutes to make it 65-64 with 7:35 left in the second half.

Iti's dunks were part of a 21-10 Aggie run that was capped by Tyrone Nelson hitting a close jumper with 5:05 left on the clock. The basket put the Aggies up 77-66.

Hawaii pulled within 86-82 with 24 seconds to play on a breakaway dunk by Matt Gibson. The Rainbow Warriors were forced to foul the rest of the way and the Aggies hit 4 of 6 free throws and an uncontested Shaun Davis dunk clinched the win.