PCAA Basketball

The Pacific Coast Athletic Assn.’s two highest-scoring guards will meet tonight when UC Irvine and New Mexico State meet at Las Cruces, N.M., and it’s a match-up that both Irvine’s Scott Brooks and the Aggies’ Kenny Travis seem to enjoy.

The last time the teams played, Brooks, the conference’s No. 2 scorer with a 23.3-point average, scored 32, and Travis, No. 4 in the PCAA with a 19.9 mark, got 33. Irvine won that game, 86-80, but the Anteaters have lost four of six since and the Aggies have won five of their last six.

New Mexico State, 7-7 in conference play and 13-12 overall, is in a four-way tie for second with Cal State Long Beach, San Jose State and Utah State. Irvine (7-8, 12-12) is alone in sixth, but just one game out of ninth place with three games to go. Only the top eight teams make the PCAA’s postseason tournament.