SILVER CITY, N.M. – JV Long scored a career-high 25 points as they Aggie men's basketball team overcame a Western New Mexico comeback attempt to win on the road on Thursday night, 82-78.

Long, who fouled out late in the game, was on fire from the field, going 10-13 while hitting five out of his six free throw attempts; his previous game-high was 23 points against West Texas A&M back in 2015. He also grabbed six rebounds and had five assists in the winning effort.

The Aggies got off to a fast start, opening the game on an 8-0 run in the first three minutes, forcing the Mustangs to burn a timeout. The two teams went back and forth throughout the rest of the half, but the Aggies maintained their lead, even when WNMU got to within one point at the 2:58 mark. CU closed out the half on a 9-4 run to lead 38-31 heading into the break.

Cameron shot over 48 percent for the half, making 4-11 from the perimeter and 4-6 from the charity stripe. Long led the Black and Gold with 10 points through the first 20 minutes of play, while Zach Dumas and Tyus Momoh each had seven points. A trio of Mustangs led the team with six points at the break.

The second half started with three points from Western N.M., but the Ags responded with a 12-2 run to extend their lead out to 16 points. The home team slowly made their way back and cut CU's 16 point advantage in half by the 11 minute mark, and then a made free throw by WNMU shrunk the deficit to just seven.  

The Aggies built their lead back up to 14 points, and with just over five minutest to play they were up by 10. Western N.M. kept chipping away at the lead and with 44 seconds left they were down by just three points. However, Cameron came up clutch when it mattered most and the Mustangs missed some big free throws down the stretch, which led to the 82-78 Aggie win.

Joining Long in double-figures for the Black and Gold were Elish Benjamin with 13 points and Momoh and Dumas, who each had 10 points. Additionally, Benjamin was one rebound shy of a double-double while Tyler Williams also had nine rebounds. As a team the Aggies shot over 51 percent from the field, going 7-17 from three and 13-19 from the free throw line.

For the Mustangs, Willie McCray led the way with 24 points, while Haneef Vaughn-Wilson had 17 points and CJ Vanbeekum had 13, hitting 3-4 from deep.

Cameron's win pushes their record to 10-15 overall with a 6-10 conference mark, while WNMU falls to 4-20 overall and 1-14 in Lone Star Conference play.

The Aggies will head back east but remain in New Mexico for their next game, as they travel to Portales, N.M. to face the Greyhounds on Saturday, Feb. 17 beginning at 5 p.m. (CT).