Wendell McKines scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, Tyrone Watson added 13 points and New Mexico State relied on its defense to pull away for a 65-49 victory over Fresno State in the quarterfinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament Thursday.
It wasn't a very pretty offensive performance by the second-seeded Aggies. But they made up for it by holding the seventh-seeded Bulldogs to 19 first-half points and 31 percent shooting for the game.
The regular-season runners-up in the WAC made easy work of the Bulldogs less than a week after needing a late rally to force overtime and beat Fresno State 83-78 in California.
The Aggies (24-9) will face sixth-seeded Hawaii in the semifinals on Friday night. The teams split their matchups in the regular season, with New Mexico State winning by 42 at home Feb. 23.
Kevin Foster led Fresno State (13-20) with 12 points.
