Ole Miss hands New Mexico first loss

OXFORD, Miss. -- Dwayne Curtis scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds Saturday as Mississippi defeated New Mexico 85-77 in a battle of unbeaten teams.

Freshman point guard Chris Warren added 16 points and five assists for the Rebels (6-0), who are off to their best start since 2000-01, when they advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16.

Trevor Gaskins and Eniel Polynice added 14 and 12 points, respectively, for the Rebels.

Ole Miss never trailed and converted 9 of 11 free throws over the final three minutes to halt a late rally by the Lobos.

New Mexico (7-1) was led by Roman Martinez, who finished 7-of-7 from the field, with 17 points. Dairese Gary added 10 points and five assists, but the Lobos fell behind 11-2 in the opening two minutes and never recovered.

Ole Miss led 47-30 at halftime on the strength of a 17-1 run midway through the first half.

New Mexico had only one basket in the final eight minutes of the half, while Curtis had eight points during the Rebels' run.

New Mexico pulled to within 81-76 on a jumper by J.R. Giddens with 15 seconds left.

The Lobos misfired on two final possessions while Polynice hit four straight free throws for the victory.

• Utah 78, UC Irvine 66 -- At Salt Lake City, Lawrence Borha scored 16 of his 24 points in the second half, when the Utes rallied from a 13-point deficit to bea the Anteaters.

The Utes (4-2) trailed 56-43 midway through the second half, but they outscored UC Irvine (2-5) 35-10 over the final 10:23 to pull away for a win in the first game between the two schools in 10 years.

• Northern Colorado 72, Colorado State 59 -- At Greeley, Colo., Jabril Banks had 17 points and nine rebounds as the Bears defeated the Rams for the first time in 20 years.

Robert Palacios added 12 points for Northern Colorado (3-3).

Marcus Walker led Colorado State (4-3) with 17 points on 5-for-12 3-point shooting. Willis Gardner had 16 points for the Rams, who had beaten Northern Colorado eight straight times.

• Akron 96, Wyoming 71 -- At Akron, Ohio, Cadrick Middletown scored 23 points to lead four players in double figures as the Zips beat the Cowboys for their 13th straight win at home.

Nick Dials and Jeremiah Wood scored 20 apiece for Akron (5-1) and Quade Milum added 19 points.

Brandon Ewing led Wyoming (3-3) with 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting.

• San Diego State 72, Western Michigan 61 -- At San Diego, Kyle Spain and Richie Williams each came off the bench to score 16 points and help the Aztecs beat the Broncos.

After sitting out a game with an ankle sprain, Spain was eased back into duty for San Diego State (7-1), playing just 20 minutes but going 6-for-10 from the field and pulling down four rebounds. Spain has scored at least 11 points in every game he has played this season.

David Kool led Western Michigan (4-4) with 14 points and Derek Drews had 11.