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EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros men's basketball team closed out the season with an 83-44 loss to the New Mexico State University Aggies on Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
Senior Shaquille Hines led the Vaqueros (8-21, 4-10 WAC) with 12 points to increase his career total to 1,316 and pass Melvin Thomas (1,306, 1987-90) and Anthony Eatmon (1,309, 1963-67) for seventh place in program history. Sophomore Dan Kimasa also reached double-figures, scoring 10 points with seven rebounds.
 
Pascal Siakam led the Aggies (22-9, 13-1 WAC) with 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting and 10 rebounds. Ian Baker scored 11 points with five rebounds and six assists. Tanveer Bhullar scored 10 points with seven rebounds.
 
The Vaqueros kept the game tight early, pulling within 8-5 on Kimasa's first-career three-pointer and 9-8 on a three by Hines.
 
A Bhullar three-point play, however, sparked a 9-0 run as the Aggies pushed their lead out to 18-8 with 8:53 to play in the first half.
 
A jumper by graduate student Dakota Slaughter and a one-hand jam by junior Christopher Ikuenobe kept the game within eight points, but Bhullar hit a pair of free throws at the 6:27 mark to kick off a 36-9 run that saw the Aggies go up 56-21 on a Siakam layup with 14:19 remaining in the second half.
 
Hines and senior Everett Osborne hit back-to-back threes and graduate student J.J. Thompson made a layup to bring the Vaqueros within 58-31, but that's as close as they got.
 
The sixth-seeded Vaqueros open up the WAC Tournament on Thursday at 9 p.m. CT (7 p.m. PT) when they face third-seeded Seattle U at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. The Vaqueros split the season series with the Redhawks, winning 67-57 at home on Feb. 18 and falling 70-59 on the road on Jan. 23.

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