LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The Sam Houston Bearkats were within striking distance in the fourth quarter, but the host NM State Aggies scored 24 unanswered points in the final stanza to claim a 37-10 win on Thursday night at Aggie Memorial Stadium. 

Sam Houston (0-5, 0-2 CUSA) had drawn to within 13-10 of the Aggies (3-2, 1-1 CUSA) on a touchdown pass from Hunter Watson to Alton McCaskill on the final play from scrimmage of the third quarter, but the fourth quarter belonged to the home team. 

NM State scored four times in the final stanza, including finding the end zone three times, to put the game away.  

Watson finished with 222 yards in the air, throwing his first touchdown of the year and one interception in the fourth quarter. Coco Brown led the Kats in receptions for the second straight game, hauling in seven passes for 53 yards, while McCaskill finished with 38 yards on the ground and 26 more in the air. 

Defensively Jaidan Scott led the Kats with seven stops, while CJ Brown had a pair of forced fumbles. 

The Kats got an early stop on the Aggies' opening drive when CJ Brown forced a fumble and Emon Allen pounced on it inside the red zone. After the Bearkat offense stalled, Curtis Gerrand pinned NMSU deep with a 72-yard punt that ended at the 2-yard line; however, the Aggies marched 87 yards and got on the board first with a 28-yard field goal by Ryan Hawk with seven minutes to play in the half.  

Logan Fife then orchestrated another scoring drive and ended it himself with a 1-yard sneak to up the lead to 10-0. The Kats finally got on the board just before the half when Christian Pavon drilled a 51-yard field goal to make it a 10-3 Aggie lead at the break.  

Hawk added another field goal in the third quarter to make it a 13-3 game before the Kats finally found the end zone, capping a 75-yard drive with a 15-yard connection from Watson to McCaskill out of the backfield.  

But NMSU was able to immediately answer, scoring twice in 1:04 of gametime to quickly push the lead back to 27-10. Hawk then added another field goal before Naeten Mitchell capped the scoring with a 71-yard interception return with under three minutes to play.  

UP NEXT
The Bearkats will next take the field on October 9 in Houston when they return to Conference USA play against Jax State at Shell Energy Stadium. 

POSTGAME NOTES 
- CJ Brown forced a fumble that was recovered by Emon Allen to end the NMSU opening drive. It marked the first red-zone stop of the season for the Bearkat defense and the first time since the opening game of the year the Kats kept the opponent out of the end zone on the first drive of the game 
- Curtis Gerrand let loose a 72-yard punt to pin the Aggies at the 2-yard line in the first quarter. The boot is the fourth-longest punt in program history and the sixth-ever punt by a Bearkat of 70+ yards 
- Christian Pavon got the Kats on the board with a 51-yard field goal just before halftime. It was his 15th career made field goal, but first of 2025. Oddly enough, the other field goal of 50+ yards in his career came on his first try of 2024, a 52-yarder he nailed in last year's season-opening win at Rice 
- Alton McCaskill made his return to the lineup and made an impact with 64 total yards and a receiving touchdown, taking a 15-yard swing pass by Watson into the end zone in the third quarter