Both New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech won overtime games on the road on Saturday night. The Bulldogs beat Fresno State, 68-66, to remain in first place in the WAC. The Aggies won at San Jose State, 81-75. Boise State also won on the road against in-state rival Idaho while Nevada was the only team to defend its home court with a 73-55 win over Hawai'i.
New Mexico State 81, San Jose State 75 (OT)
SAN JOSE, Calif. ?“ The Aggies scored the first six points in overtime and red shirt sophomore Tyrone Nelson scored 25 of his game-high 28 points in the second half as the New Mexico State men?™s basketball team came back from a 13-point deficit in the second half to defeat San Jose State, 81-75 in Western Athletic Conference men?™s basketball action Saturday night at the Events Center.
In the overtime session the Aggies wasted no time in gaining the lead as senior Mike Mitchell (San Antonio, Texas) drained a three pointer just seconds in to give NMSU a 71-68 lead. Next trip down, junior Shaun Davis (San Diego, Calif.) hit a floater in traffic and Ingram capped the quick run with another three to put the visitors up 76-68 with just over three to go in the extra session.
After the Spartans countered with a 4-0 run of their own to make the score 76-72, the Aggies hit 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to seal the deal and get their second conference road win of the season. NMSU is now 8-10 overall and 4-3 in WAC play. Saturday?™s win was the Aggies first in overtime this season as they entered the game 0-2 in overtime games this year.
The Spartans, who are now 1-7 at home this season and 0-4 in the WAC at the Events Center, are 5-14 overall and 1-5 in league play. San Jose State now trails in the all-time series with NMSU, 20-10 and has lost the last two meeting between the clubs.
Nelson (Hempstead, Texas), who recorded his ninth double-double of the season Saturday, finished with 11 rebounds to go along with his 28 points. Nelson was 9-for-15 from the field and 10-for-14 from the free-throw line in the win. Mitchell, who grabbed a career-best six steals in the win, finished with 24 points and three rebounds to help NMSU stay above 500 in conference play. Mitchell was 8-for-14 from the field, 2-for-4 from three-point range and 6-for-9 from the free-throw line.
Louisiana Tech 68, Fresno State 66 (OT)
FRESNO, Calif. -- Not even overtime could slow down the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.
Out to their best conference start since joining the Western Athletic Conference, Tech (14-7; 7-1 WAC) is still solely in first place after downing the Fresno State Bulldogs (10-8; 3-4 WAC) Saturday night in overtime in the Save Mart after Fresno?™s star forward Ja?™Vance Coleman missed a shot with time running out to give the Tech Bulldogs their seventh win in their last eight games.
Both defenses played exceptionally well as both teams were tied at 62 at the end of the second half after Coleman knocked down a three falling backward with 2.9 seconds left to go.
Senior guard Corey Dean knocked down the first shot in overtime, and the Tech Bulldogs maintained the lead for the remainder of the ballgame. Dean would finish with 12 points and six rebounds.
Tech star junior forward and back-to-back NCAA rebounding champion Paul Millsap finished with 29 points and 17 rebounds in the contest, which put him in the elite 1000 point, 1000 rebounds club as only the sixth player to do so in Louisiana tech history. Millsap shot 11-of-22 from the floor and 7-of-9 from the charity stripe.
Senior guard Daevon Haskins also had a good game by finishing with six points and eight assists with his two biggest points coming from a 15-foot jumper in overtime that would practically seal the deal.
The Tech Bulldogs shot 41 percent from the floor and grabbed 44 rebounds compared to Fresno State?™s 37 percent and 35 boards.
Coleman finished with 29 points while forward Hector Hernandez finished with 16 points, all in the second half.
Nevada 73, Hawai'i 55
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Nick Fazekas had 19 points and a season-high 17 rebounds and Marcelus Kemp scored 21, leading Nevada to a 73-55 win against Hawaii on Saturday night.
The Wolf Pack (15-5, 5-3 WAC) shot 54.4 percent from the field and held the Rainbow Warriors (10-7, 4-3) to just 38.2 percent while outrebounding Hawaii 40-24.
Nevada, which only trailed 2-0, put the Rainbow Warriors away with a 29-11 run in the second half capped by a dunk by Fazekas with 3:38 that gave the Wolf Pack their largest lead, 71-45.
Hawaii did not score a field goal from the 13:03 mark until Matt Lojeski's dunk with 5:41 to play.
Nevada went on a 15-2 run during the last 5:02 of the first half to help build a 36-23 lead. Kemp started the run with a pair of 3-pointers that gave Nevada a 27-19 lead.
Nevada took its largest lead of the first half, 36-21, when Ramon Sessions hit an 8-footer with 36 seconds left.
Lojeski led Hawaii with 15 points and Julian Sensley added 11.
Boise State 82, Idaho 68
MOSCOW, Idaho ?“ Coby Karl and Eric Lane combined to score 43 points to lead Boise State to an 82-68 Western Athletic Conference win over Idaho at the Cowan Spectrum on Saturday afternoon.
Boise State?™s win was its ninth straight over Idaho and Greg Graham?™s seventh in as many games against the Vandals.
Boise State (10-9, 3-5 WAC) went on a 14-point run early in the first half to take a commanding 17-4 lead. The Broncos pushed the lead to as many as 20 early in the second half and held off a couple of Idaho (3-14, 0-6 WAC) runs that saw the Vandals get within four with 12:55 to play and within six with 1:12 to play.
Karl squashed Idaho?™s first run with a three pointer with 12:46 to play to spark Boise State on a 21-9 run that pushed the lead back to double digits.
The Broncos built the lead back to as many as 18 points, but Idaho came charging back to within six. McNeal Thompson sealed the game making 5-of-6 free throws in the last minute. Thompson finished with a season-high 10 points.
Karl was nearly as spectacular as he was in Thursday night?™s loss to Nevada when he scored a career-high 32 points. He finished with 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 6-of-8 from 3-point range.
Lane complimented Karl with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting as Boise State finished the game making 28-of-49 shots (57.1 percent), including 12-of-24 (50 percent) from 3-point range.
Tez Banks ran his consecutive shots made streak to nine, finishing 3-for-3 from the field with eight points. Kareem Lloyd led Boise State with eight rebounds and three blocked shots, while Seth Robinson had seven rebounds for the Broncos.