LAS CRUCES, N.M. — It was like cramming minutes before for a final exam.

The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team arrived in town less than five hours before tip-off, then tried to take on one of the biggest teams in the Western Athletic Conference without any practice time.

Predictably, the Rainbow Warriors failed their latest road test, this one a 106-71 rout by New Mexico State.

"We're not going to use travel as an excuse, but it was a factor to show up four hours before you play a game and then have to come out and play one of the best teams in the conference," Hawai'i head coach Bob Nash said.

Due to flight problems, the 'Bows were stranded in Dallas on Friday and did not get a chance to practice. They arrived in Las Cruces around 2:15 p.m. (Mountain time) yesterday. The game started at 7:05 p.m.

"Rough," senior point guard Matt Gibson said. "I don't like to make excuses, but if there's a good time for one ... "

Once in the Pan American Center, Hawai'i's lag — jet or otherwise — was apparent.

The Aggies dominated every phase of the game to avenge a 23-point loss to the 'Bows on Jan. 31 in Honolulu.

New Mexico State improved to 19-13 overall and clinched a share of the WAC regular-season championship at 12-4.

Hawai'i dropped to 11-18 with its sixth consecutive loss — the longest losing streak since the 1998-99 season. The 'Bows finished in fifth place in the WAC at 7-9.

Yesterday was the final day of the regular season. The WAC Tournament is scheduled to start Tuesday at the Pan American Center.

Hawai'i will face No. 4-seed Boise State in a quarterfinal game on Thursday at 8 a.m. (Hawai'i time). The 'Bows will stay in Las Cruces to prepare for the WAC Tournament.

Riley Luettgerodt scored a career-high 26 points to lead Hawai'i last night, and said the travel issues should not have cost the 'Bows 35 points.

"It just came down to (the Aggies) were a way better team tonight," he said. "It wouldn't have mattered if we got in on time, slept in, got to shoot around. It didn't make a (35)-point difference."

Indeed, Hawai'i was in the game for all of four minutes. The score was tied at 8 after a 3-pointer by Luettgerodt with 16:31 remaining in the first half.

After that, it was all Aggies.

New Mexico State used a 13-2 run to take a 28-12 lead with 9:47 left in the half.

When NMSU's Justin Hawkins scored on a driving layup with 4:50 remaining in the half, he had 16 points — as many as the 'Bows. By then, the Aggies had a 40-16 lead.

NMSU eventually took a 50-29 lead at halftime, with Hawkins scoring 21 in the first half.

Hawkins, a 6-foot-7 senior forward, finished with a career-high 37 points and 10 rebounds.

When told of Hawai'i's travel problems, Hawkins said: "We're not worried about that. I don't know if they want to use that as an excuse or what, but we just went out there and played our game. We were going to play the same way regardless."

With the lack of preparation and only 10 players available, Hawai'i was doomed before the first half ended.

"I didn't know if we had enough in the tank to dig our way back," Nash said. "And (the Aggies) just kept bringing it, kept executing their stuff, and we didn't have any answers."

The Aggies opened the second half with a 12-2 surge to increase their lead to 62-31. Hawkins highlighted the run with an alley-oop dunk off a pass from halfcourt by Jonathan Gibson.

Hawai'i trailed by as many as 39, and never got closer than 27 in the game's final 15 minutes.

The only drama in the second half was waiting to see how many points the Aggies would score. The raucous crowd of 7,296 at the Pan American Center was chanting "We want 100! We want 100!" with more than five minutes remaining.

The 106 points wound up being the most scored against Hawai'i since the 1999-2000 season, when TCU also scored 106. The 35-point margin of defeat was Hawai'i's largest since a 39-point loss at TCU in 2001.

Gibson finished with 16 points and five assists, and was the only other Hawai'i player besides Luettgerodt to score in double-figures.

The 'Bows shot just 36.4 percent from the field, while the Aggies shot 51.3 percent. But the most notable statistic was the rebounds.

New Mexico State grabbed 65 to Hawai'i's 29. The Aggies had nearly as many offensive rebounds — 28 — as Hawai'i's total. It led to a 20-3 advantage on "second chance points."

Martin Iti led the Aggie rebounding assault with 13 boards; Fred Peete nearly had a triple-double with 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

"Coach (Marvin Menzies) talked before the game, we wanted to out-rebound them by 12," Peete said. "We tripled that."

Despite the lopsided loss — and the six-game losing streak — the 'Bows are not quite ready to return to Honolulu.

"We're still hopeful, it's tournament time," Gibson said. "Anything can happen. You see on TV, on ESPN, all the upsets, all the Cinderella teams."

Nash said: "We go back to work (today) and start working towards getting ready for the conference tournament. It's a three-game season now."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.