New Mexico State halts Louisiana Tech's win streak at 18 games

Updated: Mar 8, 2013, 12:54 am

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- Daniel Mullings scored 23 points, and New Mexico State won 78-60 on Thursday night to snap Louisiana Tech's 18-game winning streak.

The Bulldogs (26-4, 16-1 Western Athletic) now must win at Denver on Saturday to clinch the WAC regular-season title. If Denver wins, the teams will be tied and RPI will determine which team gets the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. According to ESPN's rankings before Thursday's game, Louisiana Tech was ranked 49th in the RPI, while Denver was 71st.

Mullings was 7 of 14 from the floor and added eight rebounds for the Aggies (20-10, 13-4). Tyrone Watson had 12 points and 11 rebounds. NMSU shot 55 percent from the floor en route to clinching the No. 3 tournament seed.

Raheem Appleby led Louisiana Tech with 13 points. The Bulldogs' streak had been the longest active winning streak in Division I.

NMSU took the lead for good, 25-23, on Watson's layup 7:06 before halftime. The Aggies led by as many as 19 in the second half.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.