BURNABY, B.C. – On a quick turnaround after Saturday's game, the Simon Fraser Red Leafs men's basketball team travelled south to face a quality NCAA Division I opponent Monday in New Mexico State. The host Aggies (4-2, 0-0 Western Athletic Conference) defeated SFU (3-5, 0-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) by a score of 77-35 at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces. The non-conference matchup came to fruition on short notice. In late November, NMSU's game against in-state rival New Mexico scheduled for Saturday was cancelled.

On Monday night, sophomore forward Georges Lefebvre, junior guard David Penney, and freshman guard Jimmy Zaborniak each scored six points to lead the Red Leafs. Lefebrve grabbed a team-best eight rebounds, while Zaborniak dished out four assists.

The hosts opened the game with seven-consecutive points, before freshman forward Nigel Hylton got SFU's first basket on an inside layup. Zaborniak drove into the paint to create space before firing a pass left to Hylton along the baseline. After getting a defensive stop, SFU closed the gap to 7-4 on a Penney pull-up jump shot. A fast-break layup by Lefebrve made it 10-6 at the first media timeout.

The Aggies went on a 14-3 run to stretch their lead to 24-9. Jump shots from sophomore forward Victor Radocaj, which bookended a NMSU basket, cut the SFU deficit to 26-13. The home side responded and eventually took a 36-13 advantage into halftime.
 

The Red Leafs began the second half with a Lefebrve free throw. He then stole the ball on the next possession and fed Zaborniak, who converted a three-point shot. New Mexico State did not allow SFU to extend that momentum into a big run. Freshman forward Zach Stone hit a long-distance shot with just over 12 minutes to go in the game to reduce NMSU's lead to 49-20. Stone also recorded five rebounds on the night, as did Radocaj. The Red Leafs had a 5-0 surge in the latter minutes of the contest on an Oludele free throw (with 6:16 remaining), a three from Zaborniak (5:45) and a foul shot from senior guard / forward Jahmal Wright (5:13) to trail 67-34.

The Aggies got a 23-point, 10-rebound performance from forward Shakiru Odunewu, and 16 points from guard Kyle Feit.

SFU shot 21.1 per cent from the field (12-57), 17.2 per cent on three-pointers (5-29) and 42.9 per cent from the foul line (6-14). NMSU made 40 per cent of its shots from the field (30-75), 24.1 per cent from long distance (7-29) and 55.6 per cent of its attempts from the foul line.

Tonight's matchup was the first between the two schools since 1997, and it was the first for SFU against an NCAA Div. I opponent since a Dec. 15, 2017 exhibition at Idaho.

The Red Leafs will travel to Hawaii for their next games, Dec. 17-19 at the the Hoops in Hawaii Holiday Classic, presented by Outrigger Resort and Hotels, in Honolulu. SFU will face Hawaii Pacific (Dec. 17), St. Edwards (Texas) (Dec. 18), and Chaminade (Hawaii) (Dec. 19) at the tournament, before ending the 2022 calendar year with GNAC contests at Saint Martin's (Wash.) on Dec. 29 and Western Oregon on New Year's Eve. The next home dates for SFU are Jan. 5 and 7. 

Single-game tickets links are at: https://www.eventbrite.ca/o/sfu-athletics-17612353468

For the latest information on SFU Athletics, visit athletics.sfu.ca. You can also find us on social media at @SFU_Athletics.
 
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