Jacksonville State’s men saw their lowest point total of the season come in a 62-51 home loss against New Mexico State on Thursday.

The loss also snapped Jax State’s 11-0 home winning streak snapped.

“We didn’t defend in the first half at all,” Jax State coach Ray Harper said. “I mean, they got downhill, got the paint. Once again, I think we had two assists at the half, ended up with six. I mean, we’ve got to get more movement off the basketball. Jaron’s drawn a lot of attention, I see he ended up with 30, but they’re helping off certain areas, and we’ve got to make them pay for doing it.”

Despite a 30-point night from Jaron Pierre Jr., the Gamecocks shot just 16-for-52 (30.7%) from the field and 6-for-29 from 3-point range.

Pierre, Conference USA’s leading scorer, shot 8-for-23 from the field and dished out 3 of the team’s 6 assists in the loss.

New Mexico State led 35-23 at halftime as the Gamecocks only logged 8 field goals on 25 attempts, with Jax State breaking out on a 7-0 run in the second half before the Aggies caught back up.

The Gamecocks were outrebounded 44-29, with the Aggies getting 16 offensive rebounds to Jax State’s 10.

“The biggest disappointment was how we rebounded the ball,” Harper said. “They just kicked us; the more aggressive, tougher team.”

Sophomore guard Koree Cotton scored 9 points for the Gamecocks and Mason Nicholson led with 10 rebounds.

New Mexico State saw a double-double from Peter Filipovity, who totaled 20 points and 12 rebounds. Christian Cook and Zawdie Jackson each scored 9 for the Aggies.

Filipovity, a 6-foot-7 Maine transfer, was key in helping the Aggies dominate in the paint as they outscored Jax State 34-20 in the paint.

Jax State (18-9, 10-4 CUSA) will host UTEP on Saturday, with Liberty now just half a game back from first place with a matchup against last-place FIU on Saturday.

“We talked about how we’ve got to be better, and we have to be much better Saturday than we were today or it will be worse,” Harper said. “UTEP, we opened the door for back for them. There’s a lot of teams happy that this game turned out the way it did tonight.”