Nevada 89, Maine 79
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Maine coach Ted Woodward couldn't find a weakness in Nevada's game.
Marcelus Kemp scored 20 points and Nick Fazekas added 18 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Wolf Pack to an 89-69 victory over the Black Bears on Thursday night.
"They are an awfully good basketball team. They really have tremendous balance, great size, great depth. Really, I don't know what weaknesses they have," Woodward said.
"They play tremendous defense. Obviously on the boards, they are able to get tremendous possessions. They are an outstanding passing basketball team and that is reflected in their assist-to-turnover ratio," he said.
Kyle Shiloh had nine points and Ramon Sessions eight points and seven assists for the Wolf Pack (11-1), who shot 60 percent from the field while holding the Black Bears to 38 percent.
Junior Bernal scored 18 points, Mark Socoby 11 and Jon Sheets 10 for Maine (5-7), which was outrebounded 36-31 and never led.
It was the first game in a week for Nevada, which plays Gonzaga Saturday in a regional matchup being billed as the "Battle in Seattle."
"We took a lot away from it because coach was telling us it was a way for us to come back from Christmas break and play a good team like Maine and get a good solid win for No. 11," Fazekas said.
It was the 10th double-double of the year for Fazekas, who has 51 in his career and entered the night leading the NCAA in rebounding averaging 12.6 per game. He moved into eighth on the Western Athletic Conference's career scoring list with 2,060 points, surpassing Flynn Robinson, who had 2,049 at Wyoming from 1963-65.
Fazekas, who played only 23 minutes, also became Nevada's all-time leader for free throws made with 456, moving ahead of Terrance Green, who had 455 from 1999-2003. The 6-foot-11 senior forward has made 81 percent of his 563 free throw attempts in his career.
"It seems like it had been forever since we had played a game," Nevada coach Mark Fox said. "We played a lot of guys so the rhythm of the game was disrupted but we got some things accomplished. We didn't do some things very well but we got the win and that's what mattered most."
Fazekas had eight points and seven rebounds in the first six minutes, then hit a 3-pointer to put Nevada ahead 19-10 at 12:10 in the first half. Kemp, Tyrone Hanson and Shiloh made consecutive 3-pointers to make it 41-26 and the Wolf Pack led 45-28 at the half.
Jason Hight and Socoby made consecutive threes to cut it to 55-42 with 13:36 left in the game. But Kemp made an 18-footer and two 3-pointers in a 3-minute span to put the Wolf Pack ahead 63-42 and Hanson gave them their biggest lead, 69-47, with a 3-point goal at 9:51.
The Wolf Pack made 8-of-20 shots from behind the arc, including 3-of-6 by Kemp. Hanson finished with eight points and freshman Brandon Fields had eight points and five assists for Nevada, which suffered its only loss against UNLV.
Nevada will meet Gonzaga for the first time since the Wolf Pack knocked the Bulldogs out of the 2004 NCAA tournament in the second round.
"That was a special weekend for us, but those were two different teams," Fox said. "What happened in that game with execution, Xs and Os, is not going to have a lot of impact on what happens Saturday."
New Mexico State 107, Norfolk State 84
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico State had five players score in double figures as the Aggies beat Norfolk State 107-84 Thursday night for their eighth straight win.
Tyrone Nelson came off the bench to score 19 on 8 of 10 shooting and grabbed 8 rebounds for the Aggies (9-3). Justin Hawkins finished with 18 points while pulling down 9 rebounds.
Elijah Ingram added 14, Fred Peete had 10 and Jonathan Gibson scored 13 for the Aggies.
NMSU's streak is its longest since winning eight straight during the 1998-1999 season.
Hawkins scored the first 8 points for NMSU, including a pair of three-point plays. The Spartans (1-9) kept pace as Tony Murphy hit a layup and two 3-pointers.
NMSU broke open the game during a stretch of nearly five minute in the first half when Norfolk State failed to score. The Aggies took advantage of the Spartans' drought to score 15 points, the last of which came when Nelson hit a layup to make it 44-27 with 6:47 left before the half.
Hawkins finished the half with 14 points on 6 of 7 shooting and 2 of 3 free-throws.
Murphy finished with 18 points, including 4 of 8 from the 3-point line, and teammate Calvin Brown added 20.
All but two of 13 players to enter the game scored at least one point for the Aggies, who reached triple-digits for the second game in a row and the third time this season.
Hawai'i 66, Tennessee-Martin 53
HONOLULU - The University of Hawai`i men's basketball team finished a six-game December homestand with a 66-53 non-conference victory over Tennessee-Martin, Thursday night, at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Rainbow Warriors (9-4) have won five straight since beginning the month with a loss to UNLV.
In their final tune-up before the Western Athletic Conference season begins next week, the 'Bows used a balanced attack with five players scoring nine points or more. Guard Riley Luettgerodt led the way with his first career double-double. In his first start, the Gladstone, Ore., native had team-highs of 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Bobby Nash just missed out on his second career double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds. Matt Lojeski, the reining WAC player of the week, had nine points and a team-best seven assists. Matt Gibson and P.J. Owsley both had nine points.
The 'Bows held the Skyhawks to 34 percent shooting and forced 19 turnovers. On the downside, UH converted a season-low 50 percent from the foul line and committed 21 turnovers.
Nash scored six of the team's first eight points as UH jumped out to a 12-4 lead to open the game. The 'Bows extended their lead to 26-11 and maintained their double-digit lead throughout nearly the remainder of the first half which UH led 39-26 at the break.
The 'Bows led by as much as 22 in the second half and the Skyhawks never got closer than the final margin the rest of the way.
Zerek Knight scored a team-high 12 points for UT Martin (3-11).
UH played the game without starting center Ahmet Gueye and reserve guard John Wilder. Both are expected to be ready for the team's WAC opener next week. The 'Bows begin their WAC season on the road with games at New Mexico State, Jan. 4 and Louisiana Tech, Jan. 6.