Idaho 74, San Jose State 63
Box Score
MOSCOW, Idaho ? In a game where so much took place, it is almost hard to know where to begin.
Most fitting would be Idaho’s convincing 74-63 victory over visiting San Jose State to give the Vandals their most success in the Western Athletic Conference victory since joining the WAC in 2005. Idaho improved to 5-13 overall and 2-5 in WAC play while San Jose State fell to 9-9 overall and 2-4 in the WAC.
“This is a big win for our program,” Pfeifer said. “It puts us in a situation where, if we can find a few more successes, we will start moving into that middle area of the WAC. (San Jose State) is a good basketball team with some positive wins. We haven’t been holding people down in their field-goal percentage and tonight we did, both from behind the arc and from the floor. The only issue we had all night was our rebounding. We made a real positive response when the score was 53-50 for a team that is in our situation and we figured out a way to finish the thing off.”
The win is easily piggy-backed by one of the most prolific shooting displays in Idaho history by Mike Hall. Hall’s 29 points and school-record nine 3-pointers added to an extraordinary Cowan Spectrum experience that also featured a thunderous Darin Nagle dunk, two technical fouls, players being ejected, 16 minutes without an Idaho foul, and suit jackets flying every which way.
But amid the other excitement, Hall’s shots kept falling.
“San Jose State runs a defense which is similar to ours and it was really beneficial for Mike because he would get lost. We had some good offensive possessions where he got open and he made them. The ball went in the hole. He was obviously important,” Idaho head coach George Pfeifer said.
The junior finished 10-of-11 from the floor and 9-of-10 from beyond the arc. Aside from besting the school record of eight 3-pointers in a game ? set by Orlando Lightfoot in 1996 ? Hall’s 3-point percentage ranks second all-time and his field goal shooting ties for third all-time at Idaho. And although the crowd chanted to see him hit one more 3-pointer to tie the WAC record, he was content to watch from the bench while his teammates put away an important victory in the final minutes.
“It feels good, especially coming off of a few bad games,” Hall said. “I had no idea I was even close (to the record) until (the PA announcer) announced it. I wasn’t shooting for the record, but the crowd got me juiced a little bit and my teammates and coaches told said why not try to get it.”
Jordan Brooks also put together a solid performance that was only overshadowed by Hall’s magical night. Brooks scored 17 second-half points to finish with 19 points, six assists, and five rebounds while hitting 9-of-10 free throws. Mike Kale also added 10 points and five rebounds and Michael Crowell finished with six assists and five rebounds.
Hall was 7-of-8 from beyond the arc in the first half and at halftime the score was San Jose State 22, Mike Hall 21. Hall’s teammates chipped in 12 other points and, as a team, the Vandals led 33-22 at the break.
The Vandals kept the Spartans at bay for much of the second half until an 11-3 San Jose State run brought the visitors within 53-50 with 6:05 remaining. That’s when Clyde Johnson stepped up huge for Idaho with a 3-point answer before Hall nailed back-to-back three’s to tie and then garner the school record and put the Vandals back ahead by 10. The tying shot came at the 5:17 mark and the new record was hit with 4:34 remaining in the game. Idaho then regained its biggest lead of the game at 12 points on two occasions before the 74-63 final score.
Nevada 87, New Mexico State 78
Box Score
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) -- Brandon Fields scored 21 points to lead the Nevada Wolf Pack to a 87-78 win over New Mexico State University on Thursday in the Pan American Center.
In the first game of the season between the Western Athletic Conference teams, Nevada (11-7, 3-2 WAC) maintained its 11-point halftime lead against the Aggies (10-11, 4-2) to secure a valuable road win.
Nevada led by 18 points with 4:39 remaining in the game, and despite a 19-point performance by NMSU freshman Jahmar Young, the Aggies couldn't cut the deficit.
The Wolf Pack was anchored by four players with double digit scoring, including Fields and freshman Armon Johnson, who finished with 20 points. Nevada's leading scorer, Marcelus Kemp, had 17 points and teammate JaVale McGee added 12 points.
NMSU's offensive effort was led by Young and senior Justin Hawkins, who ended the night with 18 points and seven rebounds.
Utah State 71, Louisiana Tech 61
RUSTON, La. - Senior All-American guard Jaycee Carroll led a quartet of double-figure scorers for Utah State with 16 points and eight rebounds as the Aggies notched a 71-61 win against Louisiana Tech here at the Thomas Assembly Center Thursday night.
Utah State, who has now won 10 straight games, improves to 15-5 on the season and 5-0 in the Western Athletic Conference with the win, while Louisiana Tech falls to 0-5 in the WAC and 3-14 overall with the loss.
Junior forward Gary Wilkinson had 15 points and nine rebounds for Utah State, while freshman guard Tyler Newbold scored 12 points and senior forward Stephen DuCharme added 11 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
Kyle Gibson scored 17 points to lead Louisiana Tech, while Dwayne Lathan had 14 points.
Utah State scored the first seven points of the game and led 26-6 with 9:23 to play on a dunk by DuCharme. Louisiana Tech then scored 22 of the next 25 points during a six-minute span to get within one before USU finished the half with seven straight points to lead by eight, 36-28, at the break.
In the first-half, Utah State shot 66.7 percent from the field (14-21) as compared to 39.3 percent shooting (11-28) for Louisiana Tech. USU also dominated the boards as it out-rebounded the Bulldogs 17-6, but the Aggies also committed 12 first-half turnovers. Newbold led the Aggies with 10 first-half points, while Gibson paced Louisiana Tech with 11 points.
Utah State began the second-half much like the first as it scored 10 of the first 12 points beginning with a layup by Wilkinson and ending with a three-pointer by senior guard Kris Clark to extend the visitors led to 48-30 with 15:30 remaining. The Aggies increased its margin to 23 on jumper by DuCharme with 4:33 to play and led by 20 with 1:44 remaining before the Bulldogs ended the game with a 13-3 run against USU's reserves to make the final margin 10 points.
Utah State finished the game by shooting 64.3 percent from the field (27-42) and 41.7 percent from three-point range (5-12), while Louisiana Tech was 40.4 percent overall (23-57) and 36.0 percent from behind the arc (9-25). USU also dominated the boards, 39-14, but committed a season-high 24 turnovers to keep the game somewhat close.
Boise State 95, Hawai?i 80
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -Senior guard Matt Bauscher scored 21 points and Matt Nelson added 18 points and 12 rebounds Thursday night to lead Boise State to a 95-80 victory over Hawaii.
Boise State (14-5, 5-2 Western Athletic Conference) won the game with its long-range shooting, hitting 14 of 22 from 3-point range for 64 percent, while Hawaii (7-11, 3-3 WAC) connected on just four of nine from beyond the arch.
Hawaii's Matt Gibson led all scorers with 26 points, while Riley Luettgoerodt scored 14 and Bobby Nash added 13 for the Warriors.
The Broncos broke the game open in the last six minutes of the first half, outscoring the Warriors 23-8 and taking a 47-22 halftime lead.
Boise State made 48 percent of all its field goal attempts for the game. The Warriors managed to hit only three of their first 16 field goal attempts but shot 44 percent for the game.
The Broncos led by 31 points - 84-53 with 6:16 left in the game - but the Warriors went on a 27-11 run to narrow the spread at the end.
Tyler Tiedeman was the only other Bronco in double figures with 17 points.
The Broncos outrebounded Hawaii 45-27, but turned the ball over 19 times compared with 14 for the Warriors.