Nevada trailed much of the second half before pulling out a three-point victory at Boise State while WAC leader Louisiana Tech won by 20 in San Jose. Fresno State beat WAC newcomer New Mexico State, 75-72, to defend its home court.
Nevada 82, Boise State 79
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Kyle Shiloh hit a 3-point shot with 1:19 remaining, then added a free throw with 6.4 seconds to go Thursday night to lead Nevada to an 82-79 victory over Boise State in a Western Athletic Conference game.
Nick Fazekas scored 25 points and snared 11 rebounds for Nevada and Shiloh finished with 20 points as the Wolf Pack (14-5, 4-3 WAC) overcame Coby Karl's career-high 32 points and a 21-3 run by the Broncos (9-9, 2-5) in the first half.
After Shiloh hit one free throw and missed the other with 6.4 seconds remaining, the Broncos had a chance to tie the game. Eric Lane raced down the court and fed a pass to Karl at the top of the key, but Karl could not get his desperation shot off before the buzzer sounded.
The Wolf Pack, which trailed by as many as 13 points early in the second half, took a 78-77 lead on Fazekas' 3-point basket with 2:10 remaining. Lane scored on a layup to give Boise State a 79-78 lead with less than two minutes to play, but then Shiloh took over, scoring the game's final four points.
Karl fueled a 21-3 first-half run with 11 points, leading the Broncos from a 21-14 deficit to a 35-24 lead. During that run, Boise State held Nevada to just one field goal during an 8 1/2-minute span and raced to a 42-32 halftime lead.
Karl opened the scoring in the second half with a 3-pointer to increase Boise State's lead to 45-32, but Nevada slowly fought its way back behind Shiloh's 14 second-half points.
Boise State outrebounded Nevada 36-21, but the Broncos committed 23 turnovers to just 10 for the Wolf Pack.
Mo Charlo had 11 points for Nevada while Kurt Cunningham had a career high 12 points for Boise State.
Karl's 32 points were the most by a Boise State player since C.J. Williams scored 32 against Idaho State in November 2002.
Fresno State 75, New Mexico State 72
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Donovan Morris made two free throws with 2.5 seconds left and blocked a 3-pointer attempt at the buzzer, helping Fresno State hold off New Mexico State 75-72 on Thursday night.
Quinton Hosley had 23 points for Fresno State (10-7, 3-3 Western Athletic Conference). Dwight O'Neil added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Bulldogs, who shot 14-of-31 from 3-point range.
Tyrone Nelson scored a game-high 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for New Mexico State (7-10, 3-3). Elijah Ingram added 16 points and seven assists.
New Mexico State trailed 68-54 with 5:24 left before Ingram and Nelson sparked a 16-3 scoring run. The Aggies had a chance to tie the game, but Ingram missed the second of two free throws with 29 seconds left.
After O'Neil made two free throws with 8.4 seconds left to give Fresno State a 73-70 lead, Ingram answered with two free throws to bring the Aggies within a point.
Morris's free throws made it 75-72, giving him 11 points. He then quickly retreated downcourt to partially block Ingram's desperation shot from near halfcourt.
The Aggies lost despite shooting 51.9 percent from the field, winning the rebounding battle 36-29 and holding a 44-22 edge on points scored in the paint.
Fresno State led 38-33 at halftime thanks to consecutive 3-pointers from O'Neil, Hosley and Hector Hernandez in the final 2 minutes. The Bulldogs finished 10-of-16 from beyond the line in the first half.
After leading by as many as 10 points, New Mexico State went scoreless for 5:11. The Bulldogs closed the gap and took the lead with a 13-2 run.
Hosley led all scorers with 15 first-half points. Nelson had 14 for the Aggies on 6-of-9 shooting.
While Fresno State improved to 8-1 at home, the Bulldogs posted a season-high 14 3-pointers -- good for a new Save Mart Center record. The previous mark was set earlier this month when the 'Dogs tallied 13 in their win over Utah State.
In addition, the program collected its 1,100th win tonight. Head coach Steve Cleveland and Ja'Vance Coleman are nearing historic milestones. Cleveland needs two victories to reach the 150 career-win plateau while Coleman needs two points to become the 44th Bulldog to post 800 career points.
Louisiana Tech 75, San Jose State 55
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Third time?™s the charm.
For the past two seasons, San Jose State had controlled their own destiny at home against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.
Not tonight.
The Bulldogs (13-7; 6-1 WAC) started an offensive onslaught that saw 48 first half points in a routing of conference foe San Joe State (5-13; 1-4 WAC) 75-55 in The Event Center Thursday, Jan. 26, in front of a crowd of 1,536 to keep Tech on top of the Western Athletic Conference.
The game started fairly close with the teams trading points back and forth for the first five minutes before Tech capped off a 7-2 run to take the lead at 18-11 with 15:01 in the first half.
The Bulldogs would never trail in the game and a steal and lay-up by junior forward Trey McDowell by faking out the inbounder with 9:03 to go before halftime kept a 23-11 run for the remainder of the half that saw the Bulldogs leading 48-28 going into the locker room.
After an explosive first half, the Bulldog offense began to slow down in the second half, but through great defensive play, they were able to keep San Jose in check and keep the lead in double figures for the rest of the game.
Junior forward and two-time NCAA rebounding champion Paul Millsap had an unusually quiet game by his standard scoring 10 points and only grabbing six rebounds; half below his seasonal average in points and rebounds per game.
Junior forward Chad McKenzie and freshman point guard Drew Washington had their season bests with 12 points and six assists for McKenzie and nine points and four assists for Washington and were the two players Coach Richard praised after the game for stepping up and playing well.
Both senior forward Michael Wilds and guard Corey Dean added eight points in the win, while McDowell chipped in with seven points.