CJ Elleby scored 20 points and came through in the clutch to lead the Washington State to a 63-54 nonconference victory over New Mexico State on Saturday at Spokane, Wash.

Trailing by 12 with 5:57 remaining, the Aggies got within four at 53-49 when Elleby made a pair of free throws and assisted on a layup by Jeff Pollard with 2:19 remaining to give the Cougars some breathing room.

New Mexico State's Shawn Williams connected on a 3-pointer and the Aggies' hopes were still alive trailing 57-52 with 1:18 remaining, but Marvin Cannon made two free throws with 1:06 remaining to seal the win for the Cougars.

Saturday's game was the third time the teams had played in just a little over a year. The Aggies won the previous two games, one in New Mexico and the other at Las Vegas.

Elleby, who scored 18 and 20 points respectively in the two defeats, exacted revenge as Washington State (5-4) won back-to-back games for the first time this season. The 6-foot-6 small forward went 4-for-8 from the field and made 10 of 13 free throws in addition to grabbing seven rebounds.

Jabari Rice and Trevelin Queen led the Aggies with 14 points each. Rice added nine rebounds for New Mexico State, which fell to 5-5.

Washington State seemed comfortably in charge, leading by 14 with just under 16 minutes to go in the game. But the Aggies went on an 11-0 run to cut the deficit to 39-36 with 13:01 remaining on Queen's 3-pointer.

After Rice's layup and free throw made the score 41-39, Washington State answered with a 12-2 spurt to push the lead back to 11 on a layup by Tony Miller with 5:57 to go.

Despite just shooting 32 percent from the field in the first half, Washington State took a 30-21 lead into intermission. The Cougars made more first-half 3-pointers (seven) than 2-point field goals (three).

--Field Level Media