Natt's 17 lead Sam Houston over New Mexico State in Conference USA Tournament 69-61

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Kashie Natt had 17 points and 16 rebounds in No. 2 seed Sam Houston's 69-61 win against 10th-seeded New Mexico State on Wednesday night in the Conference USA Tournament.

Sam Houston (22-10) plays the winner between No. 3 seed Western Kentucky and sixth-seeded Kennesaw State in the semifinals Friday.

Jacobe Coleman scored 15 points, going 5 of 12 from the floor, including 2 for 4 from 3-point range, and 3 for 4 from the free-throw line for the Bearkats. Veljko Ilic shot 5 of 11 from the field and 3 of 9 from the free-throw line to finish with 13 points, while adding six rebounds.

Jemel Jones led the Aggies (16-16) in scoring, finishing with 19 points, six rebounds and two blocks. New Mexico State also got 10 points and seven rebounds from Jae'Coby Osborne. Elijah Elliott finished with eight points.

Sam Houston took the lead for good with 18:36 to go in the first half. The score was 37-26 at halftime, with Natt racking up nine points. Sam Houston was outscored by New Mexico State in the second half by three points, with Jacob Walker scoring a team-high 10 points after intermission.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.