LAS CRUCES, N.M. – California Baptist closed out the regular season portion of its historic run with a 75-63 defeat at Western Athletic Conference champion New Mexico State on Saturday night.
 
The Lancers have already secured an invitation to postseason as announced earlier this week.  CBU will host an opponent to be determined on March 20.  More details will be available soon.
 
NM State wrapped up the regular season with a 27-4 overall record and 15-1 league mark.  CBU was the only conference opponent to defeat the Aggies this season.  The Lancers won the match-up in Riverside, 82-76, back on Jan. 3. 
 
CBU is now 16-14 overall and 7-9 in the WAC.  On Thursday at UTRGV, the Lancers secured their 16th win of the season as a program in its first-year of a four-year transition process to NCAA Division I status.  It is the most wins by a first-year team that is an RPI counter.  Grand Canyon previously held the mark with 15 wins during its 2013-14 season.
 
NM State jumped on the Lancers early tonight.  The Aggies led 19-8 at the first media timeout with 12:32 on the clock.  C.J. Bobbitt, who scored 13 points in the first meeting at CBU, scored 14 of the Aggies' 19 points to start the game.  Bobbitt was 5-of-6 from the field including four treys. He did not score the rest of the night.
 
The Aggies would extend their lead to a game-high 26 points and held a 48-22 advantage at halftime.  NM State shot 58.1-percent (18-31) from the field while making 8-14 three pointers in the first half.  The Lancers shot just 31-percent (9-29) from the field to start the game.
 
CBU did not back down in the second half and outscored the Aggies 41-27.  The Lancers outpaced NM State 19-8 in the final seven minutes of the game to cut the lead to 12 – the final margin.  CBU shot the ball much better in the second half, making 15-of-34 from the field.
 
Milan Acquaah posted his third double-double of the season with 15 points and 13 rebounds along with three assists and two steals for the Lancers.  In the first match-up with the Aggies, Acquaah scored a career-high 36 points.  Acquaah is considered a favorite for the WAC Player of the Year award, which will be announced next week.  He finished the regular season averaging 19.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game.  With those averages, he is ranked first in points, second in steals, eighth in assists and 12^th in rebounds among WAC players.  Acquaah is the only player in the league to be ranked in the Top 15 in all four statistical categories.
 
CBU's Jordan Heading scored 14 points tonight.  He now has 1,474 points scored in his career to move up to 8^th all-time in program history.  Heading is also now tied at the top of the list for games played in a Lancer uniform at 127 games. On Thursday, he claimed the school-record for three pointers made, that now stands at 228.  Heading is also ranked seventh all-time in assists with 340.
 
De'jon Davis scored a team-high 18 points while pulling down eight boards for the Lancers.  Mike Henn added 11 points and four rebounds.
 
NM State was led by Trevelin Queen with a team-high 19 points, four rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. Eli Chuha chipped in 12 points.