Louisiana Tech 70, Hawai'i 67
RUSTON -- Hawaii (9-6; 0-2 WAC) could not get the proverbial monkey of the back as the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (4-10; 2-0 WAC) beat the Warriors 70-67 Saturday night in the Thomas Assembly Center to take their sixth straight win over Hawaii dating back to the 2003-04 season.
“This team really needed this win,” Tech head coach Keith Richard said. “I don’t think we could have won tonight if we hadn’t beaten San Jose the way we did Thursday night (when Tech beat San Jose 92-56).”
The Warriors struck first with a bucket at the 18:49 mark in the first half and added seven more points before senior Harry Disy scored Tech’s first points with just over 15 minutes to go in the first half to cut Hawaii’s lead to 9-2. Tech ran off six points in a row before the Warriors scored their next points.
After a 5-0 Warrior run, senior Marcus Elliot hit a lay up with 12:01 to go in the half to cut Hawaii’s lead to 14-10. Hawaii followed with eight unanswered points over the next three minutes to take a 22-10 lead with 8:15 on the clock. The Bulldogs, however, outscored the Warriors 20-9 for the remainder of the second half and only trailed 31-30 at halftime. Bulldog senior Trey McDowell finished with 12 first half points.
The Bulldogs came back out of the tunnel and took the lead from the Warriors by outscoring Hawaii 12-8 in the first six minutes of the second half for a 42-39 score. The Bulldogs added to their lead, and with 9:01 left in the game led 50-43. Tech would go on to win the ballgame 70-67.
Tech was led by senior Trey McDowell with 22 points and six rebounds for the night, while McKenzie finished with 18. Senior Harry Disy added 11 points and seven boards. Ahmet Gueye led the Warriors with 18 points.
“I thought Trey made huge plays for us in the second half,” Richard said. “I told the team coaching is only so much in the game. You need kids to make play, and Trey really did that. He really made some offense happen in the second half.”
New Mexico State 74, San Jose State 68
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) -Fred Peete scored 21 points, 19 of them in the second half, and New Mexico State rallied for its 11th straight win to beat San Jose State 74-68 on Saturday night.
New Mexico State (12-3, 2-0 WAC) trailed 41-32 with 13:52 left in the game, then put together a 16-2 run to take a 53-47 lead. Peete, who hit four 3-pointers in the second half, scored five points in that spurt.
San Jose State (1-13, 0-2 WAC) led 31-26 at halftime. The Spartans, who have lost seven straight, were led by Carlton Spencer with 17 points.
David Fisher scored 15 points for the Aggies.
New Mexico State, as it has much of the season, struggled at the free throw line. The Aggies hit just 19 of 36 free throws.
NMSU, a team that likes to pound the ball inside for high-percentage shots, came into the night scoring a conference high 84.6 points per game on 52 percent shooting. But in the first half they shot just 33 percent.
It looked like more of the same when the Aggies missed seven of their first eight shots in the second half. Then Peete got the offense started with a 3-pointer. After a San Jose State basket, Aggie Tyrone Nelson hit a lay-up after the Aggies' press forced a turnover.
Peete hit another 3-pointer, Martin Iti added a dunk, then stole a Spartans pass and threw the ball to Peete for a lay-up.
David Fisher scored back-to-back baskets to give the Aggies their first double-digit lead at 59-49 with 4:52 left.
Nevada 81, Idaho 55
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Senior Nick Fazekas wasn't concerned about coming out flat after a weeklong layoff since No. 21 Nevada's last game.
Junior Marcelus Kemp scored 22 points and Fazekas added 19 points and 11 rebounds to lead the three-time defending Western Athletic Conference champions to an 81-55 victory over Idaho on Saturday night.
Kemp made 8-of-13 from the field and Fazekas 7-of-8 for the Wolf Pack (13-1, 1-0), who went on a 20-6 run late in the first half and shot 57 percent on the game en route to their sixth straight victory since their lone loss to rival UNLV.
Nevada had not played since beating Gonzaga in Seattle last Saturday.
"We were wanting to play," Fazekas said. "We were looking forward to starting the WAC season so we weren't really worried about coming out flat. We were definitely ready to play tonight."
Keoni Watson was the lone scorer in double figures with 19 for the Vandals (2-12, 0-2), who were outrebounded 45-26 and shot only 31 percent from the field.
Nevada led 46-28 at the half and by as much as 32 _ 80-48 on freshman JaVale McGee's slam dunk off a pass from sophomore Lyndale Burleson with four minutes remaining.
"This is far and away the best team we've played," Idaho coach George Pfeifer said. "They are solid. They do everything well."
Fazekas, a 6-foot-11 senior, moved past Josh Grant (Utah 1988-93) into eighth place on the WAC's all-time rebounding list with 1,072. It was his 11th double-double of the season and 52nd of his career.
Senior Kyle Shiloh, junior Ramon Sessions, junior David Ellis and freshman Brandon Fields each scored seven points for the Wolf Pack, who are off to their best start in 55 years and now are 52-6 at home since the start of the 2003-04 season.
"I thought we came out and played fairly sharp in the first half," Nevada coach Mark Fox said. "We were able to build a lead and get some young guys some experience," he said.
Fazekas scored eight consecutive points for Nevada early in the second half _ three in a row off rebounds _ and Kemp sandwiched a pair of 3-point plays around Ellis' hook shot for a 66-37 lead with 13:37 left in the game. The lead grew to 78-45 when Ellis converted a 3-point play then Burleson scored on a break off a pass from Shiloh 1t 6:56.
Kemp scored nine points in the first 7 minutes of the game, including two 3-pointers. Watson followed a 3-point goal with a drive to the hoop to pull to 19-14 at 11:29.
But Nevada outscored the Vandals 20-6 over the next 7 minutes _ including consecutive 3-pointers by Denis Ikovlev, Sessions, Shiloh and Fazekas _ and went ahead 39-20 on Sessions' basket inside off an inbounds pass at 4:29.
Trevor Morris ended the Wolf Pack's 9-0 run with an 18-footer then Michael Crowell made a 3-pointer and Mitchell Johnson scored inside, was fouled and made the free throw to make it 43-28 but Kemp converted a 3-point play of his own with 18 seconds on the clock to make it 46-28.
"I'm happy we got our first win in WAC play," Kemp said. "Any win is a good win."
Fresno State 79, Utah State 70
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Dominic McGuire had 19 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks as Fresno State held off a late rally by Utah State for a 79-70 victory Saturday night.
Ja'Vance Coleman added 16 points while Quinton Hosley and Kevin Bell had 15 apiece for the Bulldogs. Chaz Spicer scored 20 points for Utah State, including a layup with 1:23 left that pulled the Aggies to within 73-68.
Utah State, which trailed by as many as 20 points in the second half, got the ball back following a turnover by Bell but committed a five-second violation while trying to inbound the ball underneath its own basket.
After Fresno State (13-2, 2-0 WAC) made two of four free throws, McGuire passed to Hosley for a layup while being fouled by Nick Hammer.
Hosley's free throw made the score 78-68 with 23 seconds left.
Utah State (10-5, 0-2) got 16 points from Jaycee Carroll, who entered the game tied with Nevada's Nick Fazekas for the WAC scoring lead at 20.9 points per game. Harassed all game by a variety of defenders, Carroll made just 3 of 12 field goals.
Fresno State shot 50 percent from the field and played well defensively with 10 blocks and 10 steals.
The Aggies shot 38.7 percent against the WAC's top-ranked defense and out-rebounded the Bulldogs 41-29, including 16 on the offensive end, but finished with only 10 second-chance points. Utah State committed 11 turnovers, leading to 19 Bulldogs points.