This wasn't simply Lobos payback. It was kind of like taking the New Mexico State Aggies out to the woodshed and giving them a beating.

The Lobos also gave the Aggies a lesson in team basketball.

The power of The Pit combined with the power of rebounding, free throw shooting and team play got the University of Lobos some sweet revenge Wednesday night.

The Lobos avenged their 71-62 loss on Dec . 4 at New Mexico State in a big way with an 83-69 pounding of the Aggies.

The Lobos were led by sophomore Roman Martinez with 24 points, Chad Toppert with 16 points, Jamaal Smith with 12 points, Daniel Faris with 10 points and Darren Prentice with nine points.

NMSU got 19 points from Jonathan Gibson and 18 points from Justin Hawkins.

"Today was all about us as a team," said Martinez.

Said Smith: "I think we did play with a chip on our shoulder."

The Lobos, who lost the board battle by 16 in Cruces, outrebounded the bigger, stronger Aggies 36-24, paced by eight rebounds by J.R. Giddens.

The Lobos also won this game from the free throw line going 31-of-39 to 19-of-30 for NMSU.

The Aggies didn't play all that badly. The Lobos were just energized to do all "the little things" Lobos coach Steve Alford had asked them to do prior to the Aggies' visit.

The Lobos win over NMSU was much like the Lobos win over Texas Tech in The Pit. The Lobos used a couple of offensive bursts to form leads and then answered all the Aggies runs with key baskets and solid team play.

When Toppert popped in a 3-pointer with 7:47 to play that put UNM up 67-51 and the Aggies were in a deep hole, one they could not climb out of. At the 6:56 media timeout, the Lobos had made their last seven shots and a neat drive and whirling layup by Prentice put the Lobos up 69-54. UNM was shooting 10-of-16 at that mark of the second half -- 62.5 percent. UNM was 5-of-9 from behind the 3-point line for 55.6 percent.

NMSU lost its first player to fouls with 6:43 to play when Jahmar Young fouled out. His foul put Prentice at the line. He made both shots and UNM was up 71-57. Martinez slipped in two free throws a 4:27 and UNM was up 75-60.

It was that way throughout the second half. NMSU would threaten to rally. UNM would throw water on the Aggies' fire with key buckets.

The Aggies didn't like being outplayed by the Lobos. At the 3:48 mark, Hatila Passos was whistled for his fourth foul and was shaking his fist and his head and yelling as he walked down the court. Hawkins rushed over to grab Passos and try to cool down the big center.

But it was all over at that point. Hawkins fouled out with 3:21 to play

The win pushed UNM's mark to 10-2. NMSU fell to 5-8.

UNM took control quickly in the second half and at the 15:40 timeout of the first half, UNM was up 41-36. The Lobos' lead was formed by a six-foot jumper by Giddens off a rebound and two Giddens' free throws. Martinez came out of the timeout to knock down a 3-pointer from the baseline to put UNM up 44-36. The Aggies came down and turned the ball over on a traveling violation and Smith was fouled on a 15-foot jumper, hit both free throws, and UNM was up 46-36 -- a 10-point lead with 14:32 to play.

Aggies' 7-footer Martin Iti grabbed Martinez when the two players crashed to the floor and Iti was called for an intentional foul. Martinez hit both free throws at the 13:58 mark and UNM was up 48-36. The Lobos also got to keep the ball on the intentional foul. Smith then banged in a trey to make it 51-36 -- a 15-point lead.

The Aggies came back to score two baskets to cut the lead to 51-40. Alford called a timeout with 12:33 to play. UNM came out of the timeout and got a baseline trey from Smith to go up 54-40. At the 11:50 media timeout, UNM was up 54-42.

The Aggies never really got back into the game after that point.

The first half actually was a better brand of basketball as both teams played well.

It was a hard-fought first half with the difference at the end a Faris free throw that handed the Lobos a 35-34 lead going into the half.

UNM was paced in the first half by Martinez with 12 points while Faris and Toppert added nine points apiece. New Mexico State was paced by Hawkins with 14 points and Gibson with nine, all from 3-point range.

The game opened with intensity and maybe a bit of nerves and that was just UNM coach Alford. Alford went after an official about a minute into the game for sending Hawkins to the free throw line shooting two. Alford thought the blocking foul on Toppert was not a shooting foul.

The Aggies took a quick 8-2 lead, but the biggest lead of the half went to the Lobos at 34-25. UNM got that lead after Smith was fouled on a drive and then hammered again by Hawkins. Hawkins was called for a dead-ball technical.

Smith made his two free throws and then Toppert hit both technical freebies to put UNM up by nine. The Aggies called a timeout after that mess to gather their composure. It must have worked. NMSU came out and worked the scoreboard back into a 34-all tie. UNM missed its first five shots after that timeout and had two turnovers.

"We let them off the hook," said Alford.

UNM got the 35-34 halftime lead on a Faris free throw. The 6-foot-9 junior post picked up his second foul with 1:12 to play on a sloppy holding foul.

The Lobos shot 41.7 from the floor in the first half going 10-of-24. NMSU shot 43.5 percent going 10-of-23. UNM went 12-of-13 from the free throw line and NMSU went 4-of-11. A big stat for UNM in the first half was outrebounding the Aggies 17-15.