Boise State 65, Fresno State 61
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Coby Karl scored 21 points and had five assists Thursday night as Boise State defeated Fresno State 65-61 in a Western Athletic Conference game.
Eric Lane scored 11 points and had five rebounds for the winning Broncos (10-8, 4-3 WAC). Matt Nelson had 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Reggie Larry had 10 points and seven boards.
Quinton Hosley scored 16 points for the Bulldogs (14-6, 3-4 WAC) and Dominic McGuire had 15 points and 15 rebounds.
The lead changed hands 10 times before Karl put the Broncos ahead for good in the second half by hitting a 3-pointer that began a 12-0 run and capped it by making all three free throws after being fouled on another 3-point try. That gave the Broncos a 53-46 lead with 9:03 remaining.
The Bulldogs pulled to within three points at 64-61 on Tyson Parker's 3-pointer with less than 4 seconds to play. But Lane then made one of two free throws after being fouled for the final margin.
The Broncos shot 42 percent from the floor and hit seven of 19 3-pointers. Fresno State hit only 34 percent, and made only one of its last eight shots from the field.
Both teams matched dismal statistics in the first half - including lengthy dry spells. Fresno State didn't score after the 8:23 mark until the last minute of the half when Eddie Miller hit a 3-pointer to cut the Broncos' lead to 30-29.
But the Broncos scored only six points in the final seven minutes and went into the break leading 32-29, getting the last points of the half on Larry's 10-foot bank shot with 1:05 remaining.
But Larry hit only two of 12 shots in the first half, and finished five of 18 from the floor.
In the first half, both teams hit only 35 percent of their shots.
Nevada 84, Louisiana Tech 67
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Louisiana Tech keyed on No. 18 Nevada's 1-2 scoring punch of senior Nick Fazekas and junior Marcelus Kemp, so Wolf Pack junior point guard Ramon Sessions took advantage.
Sessions had 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists to lead Nevada past the Bulldogs 84-67 Thursday night and maintain a share of the lead of the Western Athletic Conference.
"The shots were there for me," said Sessions, who shot 8-for-12 from the field and 5-for-6 on free throws. "Marcelus and Nick are going to draw help. That makes it easy for me."
Fazekas added 13 points and Kemp 12 for the Wolf Pack (18-2, 6-1), who trailed by as much as eight early but scored the last four points of the first half to tie the score at 37 and opened the second half with a 10-0 run. Fazekas entered the game averaging 20.4 points and Kemp 19.1.
Chad McKenzie had 19 points and Trey McDowell 17 for Louisiana Tech (6-13, 4-3), which shot 58 percent from the field the first half but only 36 percent the second half.
"They brought great energy that second half," Louisiana Tech coach Keith Richard said about the Wolf Pack. "They were flying down the floor. We just didn't match it. It looked like we were in mud. They were flying by us with great energy.
"It was too much for our team. The good news is, a month ago we couldn't play them like that the first half."
Senior Denis Ikovlev added nine points on 3-of-4 3-point shooting for the Wolf Pack, who are now 55-6 at home since the start of the 2003-04 season. They are tied for the league lead with New Mexico State, which snapped the Wolf Pack's 10-game winning streak with an 80-73 win last Saturday at Las Cruces, N.M.
Fazekas had seven rebounds for Nevada, which was outrebounded 16-11 the first half. The Wolf Pack finished with a 30-23 rebound edge and shot 56 percent from the field.
"We played a lot harder the second half. We rebounded and passed the ball well," Kemp said.
Nevada coach Mark Fox said defense was the key in the second half.
"It led to a lot of transition baskets," he said. "Our defense gave us a lot of 3-point plays starting the second half, which was something we wanted to try to do. Then we got some stops after that and that allowed us to build a lead."
Fazekas opened the second half with a three-point play when he was fouled on a 12-foot turnaround to start the 10-0 run. Ikovlev hit a 3 from the top of the key and senior Kyle Shiloh drove the lane for a dunk before adding a pair of free throws to put Nevada ahead 47-37 with 17:09 left.
Jerome Richardson ended the run with a three-point play, but Sessions answered with the same then threw a three-quarter court pass to Fazekas for a layup and Ikovlev followed with a 3-pointer for a 55-43 lead at 14:12.
Sophomore Lyndale Burleson's 3 made it 60-45 with 11 minutes left, but McKenzie scored six points in a row to pull the Bulldogs to 65-43.
Ikovlev hit another 3 and freshman Brandon Fields pulled up for a 10-foot jumper to give Nevada its biggest lead, 70-53 at 6:35.
McDowell's 3-pointer started a 7-0 run for the Bulldogs to cut it to 70-60 but Sessions converted a three-point play, passed to Fazekas for a layup and drove the lane for another score to put it away 79-64 with 2:10 left.
Louisiana Tech scored the first six points of the game and went ahead 11-4 on McKenzie's 3-pointer. McDowell had consecutive baskets to push the lead to 26-18 at 7:49, but Nevada answered with a 12-4 run including a steal and dunk by Sessions and a turn around bucket by Fazekas on the baseline to tie it 30-30 3:07 before the half.
McKenzie's 15-footer put the Bulldogs ahead 37-33 with 59 seconds left but Fields scored inside and with 5 seconds on the clock Sessions turned another steal into a breakaway dunk for the 37-37 tie.
Fox said he wasn't pleased with his team's start. He hopes for a better one Saturday night when it hosts Utah State (15-5, 4-2).
"There wasn't a lot of energy in our kids tonight," Fox said. "That's when your crowd picks you up. We need to get more energy in our team. They played harder than us the first half, had a lot more energy than we did."
Hawai?i 72, San Jose State 52
HONOLULU - The Hawai'i men's basketball team scored 24 unanswered points in the first half and cruised to a 72-52 victory over San Jose State, Thursday night, in a Western Athletic Conference match-up at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Rainbow Warriors (11-9, 2-5 WAC) snapped a three-game losing streak extended their win streak over the Spartans to eight games.
The 'Bows used a balanced attack and dominating rebound advantage in the first half to take a 40-15 halftime lead. UH led 8-6 at the 15:44 mark and from there things got ugly for the Spartans. Over the next 13 plus minutes, the 'Bows outscored SJSU 30-2, including a nine minute stretch in which the Spartans missed 17 straight attempts. UH scored 24 unanswered during that spurt to go ahead 38-8.
Matt Lojeski led UH with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Five other 'Bows scored nine or more points including Matt Gibson, who added 12 points and nine rebounds. P.J. Owsley and Bobby Nash each chipped in with 10 points.
UH out-rebounded the Spartans, 53-to-34 with the help of Ahmet Gueye and Stephen Verwers, who each grabbed 13 boards. Gueye missed out on his sixth double-double of the season while Verwers had six points.
The Spartans shot just 19 percent in the first half and a season-low 26.6 percent for the game. UH shot 46.9 percent, including a blistering 53.1 percent in the first half. By the half, Verwers grabbed 11 rebounds, nearly as much as the entire SJSU team, which had 13.
Carlton Spencer and Menelik Barbary were the only bright spots for the Spartans (2-17, 1-6 WAC), who dropped their 20th straight road game. Spencer scored a team-high 15 points before fouling out late in the game, while Barbary had 15 points and nine rebounds.
UH led by as much as 33 in the second half until a 20-2 SJSU run cut the lead to 15.