Nevada earned at least a share of its third straight WAC regular season title after a 75-57 win at Utah State. Hawai`i's Julian Sensley hit a three-pointer in the final seconds to give the Rainbow Warriors at 61-60 win at San Jose State. New Mexico State moved into second place after beating Idaho, 66-50.
Nevada 75, Utah State 57
LOGAN, Utah (AP) - Marcelus Kemp scored 26 points and Nick Fazekas had 23 points and 16 rebounds to lead No. 25 Nevada to a 75-57 victory over Utah State on Saturday. The Wolf Pack (22-5, 11-3) won their ninth in a row and earned at least a share of the WAC's regular season title for the third straight year. Nevada can win the title outright for a second straight year with a victory in either of their final two home games against Fresno State and San Jose State.
Nevada also shared the regular season title with UTEP two years ago and hosts the league tournament, which begins March 7.
Utah State (19-7, 9-5) could have tied Nevada for first place - and swept the Wolf Pack for the season - with a win, but the Aggies never recovered after missing 15 of their first 18 shots.
Jaycee Carroll led Utah State with 17 points, scoring 13 in the second half as the Aggies tried to rally. Cass Matheus was the only other Aggie to score in double figures, finishing with 10 points.
Kyle Shiloh added 11 points for the Wolf Pack, who shot 68 percent (13-for-19) in the second half.
Nevada let a 15-point lead drop to five midway through the second half when Chris Huber got Utah State within 47-42 on a 3-pointer with about 11 minutes remaining.
Then Kemp and Fazekas took over the game during a 13-4 run that took away what little momentum Utah State had gained.
Kemp started the run with a 3-pointer and the 6-foot-11 Fazekas was about three feet behind the arc when he got a 3 to bounce in off the rim as Nevada scored eight in a row. Fazekas also tipped in a rebound and had a dunk as the Wolf Pack took over with a 60-46 lead.
Hawai`i 61, San Jose State 60
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Julian Sensley's 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left gave the Hawai`i men's basketball team a thrilling 61-60 victory over San Jose State, Saturday afternoon, in a Western Athletic Conference match-up at The Event Center. Coupled with Wednesday's victory over Idaho, the Rainbow Warriors (16-9, 9-5 WAC) swept their first WAC road trip since 2004.
The 'Bows never had the lead until Sensley's game-winner. After numerous missed opportunities, UH finally tied the game at 58 with 52.5 seconds left following Chris Botez's dunk. The Spartans answered back and Alex Elam's 15-footer put SJSU ahead with 36.5 seconds remaining.
On UH's ensuing possession, Sensley turned the ball and the 'Bows were forced to foul SJSU guard Carlton Spencer. However, the junior missed the front end of a one-and-one setting up Sensley's heroics. The game-winner was the third of Sensley's career.
Forward Ahmet Gueye led all UH scorers with 19 points and eight rebounds. Gueye scored seven straight points late in the second half to keep the 'Bows within striking distance. The junior missed two close lay-ups on one possession with under three minutes to play that would have tied the game.
Guard Matt Lojeski had 14 points followed by Sensley's 13 and seven boards.
Spencer and Elam each scored 15 for the Spartans (6-22, 2-12).
SJSU jumped out to a 12-6 lead after the first eight minutes of the game. The Spartans extended their lead to 20-9 before the 'Bows responded with an 8-0 run, including back-to-back treys by Lojeski to pull within three. UH could not get any closer than five the rest of the way as the Spartans took a 33-28 lead at the half. SJSU dominated the glass in the first half, out-rebounding UH 20-to-13.
Hawai`i closed the deficit to 40-39 three minutes into the second half following Lojeski's fourth trey. The Spartans held off UH every time, even extending their lead to seven after Devonte Thomas' three-point play with 5:08 left. But the 'Bows hung tough on the defensive end and out-scored the Spartans 10-2 the rest of the way for their sixth victory in the last seven games.
New Mexico State 66, Idaho 50
Las Cruces, N.M. ?“ Trailing by as many as 14 early in the second half, the New Mexico State men?™s basketball team turned up the pressure and began knocking down shots to win their sixth straight game as they defeated the Idaho Vandals 66-50, Saturday night in the Pan American Center. The game was the home finale for NMSU and the final game in the Pan Am for seniors Mike Mitchell (San Antonio, Texas) and Trevor Lawrence (St. Lawrence, Jamaica) as the Aggies improve to 15-12 on the year and 10-5 in WAC play while the Vandals fall to 4-22 overall and 1-13 in the WAC.
As seen many times in the past, NMSU started a little sluggish in the first half as they trailed by 10 at the half, but rebounded back to outscore Idaho 43-17 in the second half. The Aggies shot 53 percent in the second half and held the Vandals to a low 29 percent while out-rebounding the visiting team 32-26.
Tyrone Nelson (Hempstead, Texas) led the Aggies with 21 points and nine rebounds while Mitchell added 15 points and a team high three steals. Shaun Davis (San Diego, Calif.) also scored in double figures as he dropped in 14 points and hit 3-of-4 shots from beyond the arc. The Aggies shot 46 percent for the game while hitting 81 percent from the charity stripe.
Tanoris Shepard led the Vandals with 13 points while Keoni Watson added 11 and Idaho shot 42 percent from the floor and 24 percent from the three-point line.
Ted Knauber (Albuquerque, N.M.) put the Aggies?™ first points of the half in on a layup at 19:16 to trim the Idaho lead to eight, but the Vandals kept sinking their attempts and led by 14 at 41-27 with 17:06 left in the second half. Mitchell then put in five consecutive points to trim the lead to nine at 15:41 as Idaho had hit 4-of-5 shots in the second half and NMSU hit 4-of-6. After Idaho hit the front end of a 1-and-1 but missed the second shot, Nelson drove down and knocked down a long jumper to trim the lead to eight at 42-34.
Ingram checked out of the game with an injury at 14:20 and Shaun Davis stole an inbound pass and put in a quick two to pull the Aggies within six at 42-36. NMSU continued to pressure the Vandals and trap them on their inbound passes and a Mitchell three-pointer and layup brought the Aggies to within one at 44-43 with 12:34 showing on the clock. Three missed shots by the Vandals then led to a Davis?™ trey that put NMSU back on top at 46-44 at 10:29 and Nelson dropped in two free throws at 9:09 to extend the Aggies?™ lead to eight.
With 7:39 on the game clock, the Aggie lead was two at 48-46 before Nelson added his 21st point of the night followed by a steal and put-back by Mitchell that put NMSU up by six at 52-46. Mitchell also drew a foul on the play and added a free throw at 6:43 that then put the Aggies up by seven. Knauber then swished a wide-open trey at 4:15 to give NMSU their first double-digit lead of the night at 58-47 and an Idaho turnover led Fisher to the line to knock down a free throw to hold the Vandals down by 12 with just over three minutes left to play.
Davis?™ third three-pointer of the night at 2:31 extended the Aggie advantage to 15 at 62-47 and he later added a pair of charity baskets to give NMSU the 17-point edge. From there the Aggies never looked back as they wore the Vandals down and took the 66-50 win.