New Mexico State Hooper Scores On Wrong Basket Down 1 With 20 Seconds Left

New Mexico State's Emma Christiano scored a clean layup in the final seconds of a one-point game on Friday ... too bad it went in the WRONG basket!

The good news? The Aggies still found a way to win.

NMSU trailed Southern Utah 61-60 in Las Cruces when freshman forward Stacey Chavino tipped away a Thunderbirds inbounds pass with 20 seconds left.

Christiano, a senior guard, chased down the loose ball and took it in for an easy layup ... on her own team's hoop. Instead of taking the lead, the Aggies suddenly trailed 63-60.

Even the ESPN+ booth got fooled. Play-by-play man Adam Young called it like NMSU had just gone ahead ... until analyst Anita Maxwell Skipper quickly set him straight.

"Wrong basket. Wrong basket," Skipper sighed.

Young admitted the play threw him for a loop, too.

ESPN's play-by-play didn't know what to do with it either. It logged the bucket as "team makes 81-foot-shot" and credited it to Southern Utah with no player's name attached.

But Chavino wasn't having it.

The freshman scored a layup with nine seconds left to cut it to just one, again. And after staunch defense, Chavino hit another jumper with 1.4 seconds left to deliver NMSU their first win of the season.

Don't feel too bad for Christiano ... she wasn't the only player to score on their own hoop THAT AFTERNOON. Earlier on Friday, Northwestern State's Karma Wynn laid one on her own basket in a 30-point loss to Arkansas.