With Utah State winning at Louisiana Tech and Nevada earning a victory at New Mexico State, there is now a three-way tie for first place at 7-3 in the WAC standings. Just a game behind is Hawaii after its win over San Jose State. Boise State defeated Fresno State for its third consecutive victory.
Nevada 90, New Mexico State 81
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - Nick Fazekas scored 36 points to help Nevada hold off upset-minded New Mexico State 90-81 Saturday night.
The win threw the Wolf Pack into a three-way tie for first place in the Western Athletic Conference standings. Nevada (17-5, 7-3) is tied with Utah State and Louisiana Tech.
Fazekas finished one point short of his career high. The junior was 12-of-17 from the field and 10-of-13 from the free throw line.
New Mexico State (9-11, 5-4) took the lead briefly in the second half. Elijah Ingram, who led the Aggies with 26 points, sank a pair of free throws with 8:32 to play to tie the game 65-65. Then Shaun Davis gave NMSU the lead with a free throw a few seconds later.
New Mexico State went ahead 68-65 with two more Ingram free throws at the 8:04 mark before Kyle Shiloh tied the game with a 3-pointer with 7:37 to play. That sent Nevada on a 15-5 run in the next five minutes.
Utah State 63, Louisiana tech 62
RUSTON, La. - Durrall Peterson scored the final five points for Utah State, including two free throws with :11.7 seconds remaining to lift the Aggies to a dramatic 63-62 win at Louisiana Tech in Western Athletic Conference action at the Thomas Assembly Center Saturday afternoon.
With the win, Utah State improves to 16-5 overall and into a first-place tie with Louisiana Tech in the conference with identical 7-3 WAC records. The Bulldogs, who lost both games to USU this year, falls to 14-9 overall.
Utah State led by as many as 15 points in the first half and went into the locker room up 13 at 38-25 as it shot a blistering 77.8 percent from the field (14-18) and 75.0 percent from three-point range (6-8). Jaycee Carroll led all players with 14 points at the break as he was 4-5 from three-point range in the opening period.
Carroll led Utah State with 19 points, while Harris added eight points, seven assists and three rebounds. Peterson finished the game with eight points for USU, while David Pak had nine points.
Millsap led all scorers with 25 points to go along with 12 rebounds, while Jerome Richardson had 11 points for the home team.
Utah State finished the game by shooting 56.4 percent from the field and 56.3 percent from three-point range. Louisiana Tech shot 53.1 percent from the field in the second half, and 45.2 percent for the game, but made just 1-14 three-point attempts in the contest. USU also shot well from the free throw line (10-13), while the Bulldogs attempted just nine charity tosses, making five. LTU did out-rebound USU 36-21, including an 18-2 advantage on the offensive end.
Boise State 66, Fresno State 63
BOISE, Idaho - The Boise State men's basketball team celebrated its third consecutive victory with a 66-63 win over Fresno State in Western Athletic Conference action Saturday (Feb. 4). The Broncos (12-9, 5-5 WAC) grabbed the win with a come-from-behind 11-point run that began at the 10 minute mark in the second period. Coby Karl scored 17 second-half points and Tez Banks grabbed 10 second-half rebounds to put the Broncos over the top.
Karl finished the game with his second double-double of the season (19 points and 14 rebounds). Banks scored 12 points and finished with a career high 17 rebounds. Matt Bauscher added 11 points and grabbed four rebounds.
While the Broncos seemed a little cold from the floor (22-of-66 for 33 percent), they made up for it on the rebounding side with 55 total, and 38 of those coming on the defensive end of the basket. Fresno State had 38 rebounds and shot 36 percent from the field (24-67). Fresno State was cold from the free throw line, making just three-of-nine. The Broncos shot 81 percent from the line (17-21).
Fresno State (11-9, 4-5 WAC) led at half-time, 32-26. The Bulldogs were led by Quinton Hosley's 21 points and 11 rebounds, Hector Hernandez's 12 points and six rebounds and Dwight O'Neil's 13 points and seven rebounds.
Hawaii 83, San Jose State 68
Honolulu, Hawaii - Forward Julian Sensley scored 25 points and pulled down nine rebounds leading the University of Hawaii to an 83-68 win over San Jose State University in a Western Athletic Conference men?™s basketball game.
Center Ahmed Gueye added 19 points and blocked four shots for the Rainbow Warriors (12-8, 6-4 WAC), which had four of their five starters in double-figure scoring. Guards Matt Lojeski and Deonte Tatum each added 10 for Hawaii.
Alex Elam kept San Jose State (5-16, 1-7 WAC) close with 21 points including 15 in the first half. His three-pointer at the end of the first half tied the game at 33-33 after the Spartans trailed by as many as 10. The Spartans took their only lead of the game, 37-35, on a Demetrius Brown basket with 18:12 to go. Brown finished with 12 points.