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New Mexico pulls away from Utah State

Feb 26, 2014 - 7:58 AM Albuquerque, NM (SportsNetwork.com) - Cameron Bairstow had 14 points, Alex Kirk scored 13 and No. 25 New Mexico survived a scare to pick up a 67-58 win over Utah State on Tuesday.

New Mexico trailed for a 10-minute stretch in the second half before Cullen Neal, son of head coach Craig Neal, hit a 3-pointer and scored four to key a 9-0 run that gave the Lobos the lead.

Neal scored 12 points in the game and made another 3 to spark a 12-0 run that pushed New Mexico's advantage to 12 with four minutes left.

Kendall Williams added 10 points for the Lobos (22-5, 13-2 Mountain West), who stay tied with San Diego State atop the conference after beating the Aztecs on Saturday.

The No. 13 Aztecs defeated San Jose State later on Tuesday.

"That was a grind," said New Mexico coach Craig Neal. "I knew it was going to be a tough game. I knew Utah State was going to come in and do very well."

Preston Medlin had 19 points to lead the Aggies (15-13, 5-11), who have lost four in a row.

Utah State shot better in 18 attempts from 3-point range (44.4 percent) than in 40 shots inside the arc (35 percent).

Aggies coach Stew Morrill remained one win shy of 600 for his career. He will get a fifth shot at it on the road at San Jose State on Saturday.

New Mexico led by as many as seven in the first half at 19-12, but the Aggies countered with an 11-0 run and remained in front at the buzzer, 27-26.

The Lobos' last lead before their late run was 30-29 in the first minutes of the second half.

Game Notes

The Lobos play at Nevada on Sunday -- one of two games remaining before their regular-season finale against San Diego State ... Morrill, who has also coached at Montana and Colorado State, is 381-142 at Utah State and 599-280 overall.