New Mexico State guard Zach Lofton finally finds home
New Mexico State senior guard Zach Lofton prepared an ice bath in Orleans Arena’s training room Wednesday night during the school’s Western Athletic Conference women’s tournament game against Chicago State.
After six collegiate seasons at five schools — that’s right, five — Lofton had some aches and pains in dire need of nursing.
But they haven’t stopped him from seeking one final curtain call.
At the NCAA Tournament.
Lofton, 25, is the Aggies’ elder statesmen and leading scorer, averaging 19.3 points to earn first-team all-conference honors during his one season at New Mexico State.
He scored a team-high 21 points Thursday night in the top-seeded Aggies’ 97-70 victory over No. 8 seed Chicago State in the men’s tournament quarterfinals.
New Mexico State is two wins from its second NCAA Tournament appearance in two seasons. And Lofton is two wins from his second NCAA Tournament appearance in two seasons.
“I want to go out there and do it the right way this time,” he said before plunging into the freezing water.
New Mexico State is the final stop for Lofton in a career that started in 2011.
After starring at a Minneapolis area high school, Lofton spent a prep year at Quakerdale Promise Academy in 2011-12 before starting college at San Jacinto College for the 2012-13 season.
The 6-foot-5-inch shooting guard earned a scholarship to Illinois State for 2013-14 and transferred for the 2014-15 season home to Minnesota, where he was dismissed from the team before the season started for failing to meet its expectations.
Lofton then transferred to Texas Southern in 2015, sat out the 2015-16 season and finally broke out as a redshirt junior in 2016-17. He averaged 16.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists en route to Southwestern Athletic Conference player of the year honors and regular-season and conference tournament championships.
“I learned to work through adversity, a lot of negative things and being at my lowest point,” Lofton said. “I think I just took a little bit from everywhere and learned from my mistakes.”
Lofton earned his bachelor’s degree at Texas Southern, then joined the Aggies as a graduate transfer. He conceded that he lacked maturity earlier in his career, but New Mexico State first-year coach Chris Jans hasn’t encountered any problems.
“Just some inconsistencies with his approach and being really hard on himself, being moody,” Jans said. “We’ve worked on it since our arrival.”
And it worked out on and off the court.
The coach believed in the player.
The player believed in the coach.
“I’m certain that wasn’t what he set out to do — to travel around the world and play basketball at so many schools — but sometimes you’re not sure what your journey is going to be,” Jans said. “That’s what Zach’s path has been.”
WAC men’s quarterfinals
No. 3 Grand Canyon 77, No. 6 Missouri-Kansas City 74 — WAC freshman of the year Alessandro Lever scored a game-high 29 points, and Oscar Frayer added 13 points and 15 rebounds to lift the Antelopes to their first conference tournament victory as a Division I program.
No. 2 Utah Valley 81, No. 7 Cal State-Bakersfield 74 — Jake Toolson scored 19 and Conner Toolson 18, and the Wolverines held off the Roadrunners.
No. 1 New Mexico State 97, No. 8 Chicago State 70 — Zach Lofton scored a game-high 21 points, and the Aggies made 14 3-pointers.
No. 4 Seattle 77, No. 5 Texas-Rio Grand Valley 60 — Richaud Givens scored 17 points and Josh Hearlihy 16 to help the Redhawks pull away from the Vaqueros.
Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.