EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) -- Holding serve at home and breaking through for some key road wins are the essence of winning in Conference USA men's basketball. Saturday, Jan. 18, the New Mexico State University men's basketball team (11-7, 4-1 in CUSA) faced a stiff challenge as the Aggies looked to complete a road-trip sweep with a win over Liberty (15-4, 3-3) in Lynchburg, Virginia. The Aggies were unable to overcome a late surge by the Flames, falling 68-60 to suffer their first conference loss of the season. The Aggies are now in a three-way tie for first place with UTEP and Middle Tennessee State, all at 4-1 in CUSA play. The Aggies built an early 11-4 lead behind the strong early contributions by Emmanuel Tshimanga and Peter Filipovity, who combined for eight points during the early going. Liberty, however, found its rhythm and answered back. The Flames took their first lead of the game, 18-17, at the 7:53 mark of the first half. The game seesawed back and fourth for the remainder of the first half and Liberty went into the break up 34-31. The Aggies carried their momentum from late in the first half into the second stanaza, once again leaning on Tshimanga, who opened the scoring with another strong finish in the post. NM State strung together an 8-4 run to reclaim the lead early in the period. The game remained a tight contest deep into the second half, with the teams trading baskets and the score never wavering by more than two points in either direction. With 11:09 remaining, the game was deadlocked at 41-41. A pair of free throws by Zawdie Jackson gave NM State a slim 47-46 lead with 7:09 left, but Liberty responded. Forward Owen Aquino's and-one finish ignited a critical 7-1 run, giving the Flames a 56-47 cushion with just over four minutes remaining. The Aggies were unable to close the gap in the final minutes. Liberty maintained control and NM State would fall 68-60. The loss marked the Aggies' first defeat since Dec. 12, when they fell on the road to Texas. Numbers of note Peter Filipovity finished the night with 12 points and a season-high of 12 rebounds to gain his fourth double-double of the season and first during conference play.  The Aggies caused the Flames to struggle at what they do best, shooting from 3-point range. On the night, the Aggies were able to hold Liberty to their lowest 3-point percentage of the year at 21% and lowest number of made threes at only shooting 3-14 from beyond the arc. Despite being the leader in CUSA in bench points per game coming into the contest, the Aggies were held to only six bench points on the night, their lowest of the season. Forward Emmanuel Tshimanga finished with one of his best performances of the year, matching his season-high of eight points and grabbing seven rebounds, which is his third highest rebound total on the year.