With 10 seconds left in overtime New Mexico State’s Jemel Jones drove down the lane giving the Aggies a one-point lead over Middle Tennessee.  

MTSU quickly inbounded the ball with guard Jahvin Carter sprinting down the floor. Carter lobbed the ball up, finding Torey Alston cutting to the rim, slamming it home to close out the game.  

“He [Alston] went up and got that last ball like a grown man, put that thing down,” head coach Nick McDevitt said. “Man, that was fun. I’ve been doing this a while and that was a fun one.” 

MTSU won its third straight Conference USA game, the longest streak of season, to clinch a spot in the conference tournament.  

The goal wasn’t to just make the tournament; there are still games to win, so nothing changes, McDevitt said.  

The Blue Raiders fought back from down 14 points midway through the second half with Carter putting the Blue Raiders on his back in the final minute of regulation.  

The sophomore guard knocked down a corner three to cut the deficit to three points.  

On the ensuing inbound, New Mexico State found an open Jae’Coby Osborne for a breakaway layup, who was fouled for a one-and-one situation.  

Osborne missed the free throw, leading to Carter scoring an and-one layup, tying the game at 76-76.  

The Tennessee native wasn’t done yet as he was the primary defender on Jones’ missed game winner.  

In the timeouts, the discussion was about getting a stop because Jones wasn’t missing in the final few minutes, Carter said.  

Jones’ drove left to the center of the paint, where he put up the game– winning attempt. The crowd exploded in excitement as it clanked off the front rim.  

“When you got a guy [Jones] that’s performing like that, you don’t want to go away from it,” McDevitt said. “Im sure their huddle, our huddle and everybody in the building knew where the ball was going.”  

Jones is a tough player to guard because of his shooting style, almost like an old Kevin Garnett with the release over the top of his head, and you can’t put a player like him on the line in that situation, McDevitt said.  

Overtime was a back– and– forth five minutes with neither team leading by more than a possession.  

Through most of regulation, the Blue Raiders struggled to rebound defensively and hold on to the ball.  

NMSU grabbed 14 offensive boards and forced eight turnovers for a combined 32 points. 

The game started with a near four-minute standstill with neither team scoring. MTSU’s Sean Smith knocked down a three-pointer at the 16:05 mark. The Blue Raiders started to pull away through the next 10 minutes of play, leading by eight points after Kamari Lands hit all three free throws on a trip to the charity stripe.  

New Mexico State finished the final five minutes of the half outscoring the Raiders 19-5 to take a six-point lead into the break.  

The second half started similar to the first with a two-minute scoring drought for both teams. The Blue Raiders chipped away at their deficit, turning around the rebound margin. MTSU ended up winning the rebound battle 39-34, with 10 more boards in the second half compared to the first.  

“Me and Chris Loofe have been rebounding at a really high level between us two,” Alston said. “We played Julius Mims, who is also a really great rebounder and Loofe was battling with him the whole time, keeping him off the glass.”  

Middle Tennessee spends the last week of the regular season on the road, traveling to face Florida International University and Missouri State University. Tipoff in Miami is scheduled for Thursday at 5 p.m. CDT against the Panthers.