Boise State 100, Pacific 68
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -Mark Sanchez led all players with 21 points as Boise State opened the season with a 100-68 victory over Pacific on Friday night.
Sanchez was one of five players to score in double figures for the Broncos (1-0) against the Division III Boxers.
Aaron Garner scored 15 points for Boise State, La'Shard Anderson and Kurt Cunningham had 13 apiece and Ike Okoye added 12. Anthony Thomas had a game-high 11 assists.
Thomas is the lone returning starter from last year's team that won its first Western Athletic Conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 14 years.
Ross Bartlett had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds for Pacific. Garold Howe had 19 points and Micah Mooney added 11.
Boise State shot 57 percent (40-of-70) and held Pacific to 30 percent shooting (24-for-80).
Fresno State 77, Sacramento State 65
FRESNO, Calif. (AP)-- Sylvester Seay scored 17 points in his Fresno State debut as the Bulldogs used a quick second-half start to defeat Sacramento State 77-65 on Friday night in both teams' season opener.
Seay, a transfer from Arizona State, scored eight of his points during a 13-0 Fresno State run to begin the second half. The surge put the Bulldogs ahead 50-31.
"We played aggressively on defense tonight and this team continues to get better," head coach Steve Cleveland said. "This is very unselfish team and I like how we attacked the ball."
Loren Leath scored a game-high 21 points for Sacramento State in its first game under new coach Brian Katz. The senior went 5 of 7 from three-point range.
Freshman Paul George added 14 points for Fresno State (1-0), highlighted by four rim-rattling dunks, including a one-hander in traffic after he drove the baseline. Dwight O'Neil had 10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
Sacramento State (0-1) failed to score in the first 6:39 of the second half before Jared Stigall ended the drought with a three-pointer.
After another Stigall three brought the Hornets to within 54-39 with 11:54 left, Fresno State responded by initiating three consecutive fast breaks.
O'Neil stole the ball in the backcourt and passed to George for an alley-oop dunk. O'Neil made another steal and passed to Mychal Ladd for a dunk. George then dunked off a long rebound and pass from Bryce Cartwright, putting the Bulldogs up by 21 points and forcing Sacramento State to call timeout with 10:09 left.
"Dunks change momentum," George said when asked of their impact. "It's fun for us and to have the crowd get into the game."
O'Neil credited the defensive pressure for creating the high-flying theatrics.
"It all starts with defense," O'Neil said. "I can pass them the ball when we apply pressure."
Fresno State led by as many as 26 points, 71-45, before the Hornets closed the deficit in the final minutes with Leath getting hot from the outside.
Mike Edwards, one of 12 junior college transfers recruited by Katz, added 10 points for Sacramento State. All came in the first half.
The Bulldogs outshot Sacramento State from the field, 54.9 to 37.9 percent. Fresno State swatted 11 Hornet shots, including three by Seay, compared to one for Sacramento State.
San Francisco 75, Hawai?i 70
HONOLULU, HI ?Despite players reaching double digit scoring, Hawai?i dropped its season opener, 75-70, against San Francisco Friday evening in the Verizon Wireless Top-Off Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.
The game marked the season-opener for both teams.
Junior forward Petras Balocka led the Rainbow Warriors with 18 points. Balocka connected on 5-of-9 shots from the field, including 2-of-3 from long range. He also recorded a 6-of-8 clip from the charity stripe. Kareem Nitoto and Lasha Parghalava each registered 14 points, while Roderick Flemings helped with 13.
As a team, Hawai?i connected on 42.6 percent of its shots from the field compared to San Francisco’s 51 percent shooting. The Dons also out-rebounded Hawai?i 29-27 on the night.
Blake Wallace led San Francisco with a game-high 21 points. Dior Lawhorn scored 16 points and Kwame Vaughn notched 10 in the win.
Hawai?i will continue play at home on Sunday when it hosts Cal State Fullerton at 5:05 p.m. HT.
Idaho 91, Evergreen State 69
MOSCOW, Idaho ? The University of Idaho men’s basketball team used a huge second half run to earn a 91-69 in its season opener Friday.
Idaho (1-0) led 44-38 at the half and used a 23-10 run midway through the second half to pull away for the 22-point victory. Evergreen State fell to 3-1 with the loss.
“We just settled down and played better in the second half,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “We executed better and didn’t miss our defensive assignments like we did in the first half. It may have been a case of nerves for our guys, but there was a 10 or 15 minute span there in the second half where we played pretty good basketball.”
Mac Hopson led the Vandals with 19 points and Kashif Watson added 17 points with 13 coming at the free throw line. The duo combined for 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals with just two turnovers.
“Mac and Kashif both played very well at the point guard spot and to turn the ball over only 11 times in our first game is very good to see,” Verlin said.
Watson also tied the Idaho single-game record with 20 free throw attempts.
Luciano de Souza stirred the crowd with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-6 from beyond the 3-point line. He also added four rebounds, two steals, and a thunderous block on a fast break.
“The NCAA just cleared (Luciano) to play today at noon and we are happy to have him back. We weren’t sure how he would play because he has only been able to practice to this point, but he came out and played very well,” Verlin said.
Trevor Morris also scored in double figures with 12 points and Brandon Wiley added seven points and nine rebounds.
As a team, the Vandals shot 47-percent from the floor and hit eight 3-pointers. Idaho held a 42-31 advantage in rebounds, grabbed 19 offensive boards, and combined to score 27 points from the free throw line.
Evergreen State stayed in the game with 11 3-pointers and shot 44-percent from the floor. NAIA All-American Nathan Menefee scored 28 points, but the Geoducks committed 30 fouls and 19 turnovers.
“Our defense was really sporadic all night,” Verlin said. “We would play hard for half a possession and then break down and give them an easy shot. We have to be a lot more solid on the defensive end if we are going to be the basketball team we want to be.”
The contest began slowly as Morris hit the first basket of Idaho’s season at the 18:37 mark to give the Vandals a 3-0 advantage. At the first media timeout the two teams had combined for just nine points, but 12 fouls. Evergreen State took a 7-6 lead with 14:46 remaining and later used a 7-0 run to build a 16-12 advantage at the 11:57 mark. Idaho charged back with 10 straight points, capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from de Souza, to give the Vandals a 22-18 lead. The lead changed again at 25-23 and Idaho reclaimed the advantage briefly at 30-29 before Menefee nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to give Evergreen State a 35-31 margin. Morris responded with a three on the next possession to cut the lead to one and a Hopson jumper later put Idaho ahead 38-37 with 1:15 remaining. The Geoducks tied the score with a free throw before de Souza again hit back-to-back 3’s to give the Vandals a 44-38 halftime advantage and a lead they would not relinquish.
Evergreen State cut the margin to one to open the second half, but Idaho later used five straight points to pull ahead 54-45. The Geoducks got the score as close as 60-57, but Idaho then rattled off five straight on its way to a 13-3 run and a 13-point lead. The run hit 23-10 and the margin was 19 after a free throw from Hopson with 4:51 remaining and a Wiley dunk put Idaho up 21 with 1:19 left. The Vandals scored eight straight to earn their largest lead of the night at 91-66 and Menefee nailed one of his many 25-footers as time expired to make the final score 91-69.
With the win, Idaho improved its record in season openers to 66-37 and Verlin became the 17th coach to win his Vandal debut.
Idaho hits the road for its next contest at #6 Michigan State Sunday (Nov. 16) at 3 p.m. PT.
San Jose State 70, South Dakota State 62
Brookings, S.D. - Tim Pierce matched his career high with 23 points, and Chris Oakes posted a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds, to lead San Jose State University to a 70-62 defeat of South Dakota State University in non-conference men’s basketball at Frost Arena on Friday night, November 14.
With a season-opening road victory for a second consecutive season under fourth-year head coach George Nessman, San Jose State moves to 1-0. South Dakota State, a member of The Summit League, is 0-1. The teams had met a year ago at The Event Center in San Jose, with the Spartans storming back from a 14-point halftime deficit to win by six in overtime, 77-71.
On Friday, the Spartans never trailed. The game featured just two tie scores after Oakes’ initial put-back bucket 23 seconds in following a missed attempt by senior teammate DaShawn Wright, at 15-15 at 9:42 of the first half, and 31-31 at 17:58 of the second.
After Oakes first got San Jose State on the board, the center made it 4-0 on a dunk off a nice inside feed by forward C.J. Webster, a fellow junior. Webster’s three-point play made it 7-0, as the Spartans went on to jump out to a 10-0 bulge by the 16:52 mark on a Wright free throw.
The host Jacks made runs at the Spartans on numerous occasions all night, with San Jose State answering each call. Up just one at 27-26 with under two minutes to go in the first half, the Spartans got back-to-back buckets from Webster and Oakes to take a five-point edge into the locker room at the break, at 31-26.
South Dakota State came out and tallied the first five points of the second period to notch the second and final tie in the contest, at 31-31, off a three-pointer from Garrett Callahan and jumper by leading returning scorer Kai Williams, a junior forward.
Ahead by only one again a minute and a half later, 38-37, San Jose State went on an 11-0 run which was ignited by a three-point play by Pierce off a DeVonte Thomas assist. The senior swingman had seven points in all during the stretch, adding another free throw and a three-pointer around an Oakes layup, again on an intricate pass by Thomas. Redshirt freshman forward Clint Amberry punctuated the run with a pair of free throws for his first collegiate points in his debut.
The Jacks would not go away, as they managed to throw in three of their eight three-pointers on the night, two of them by Clint Sargent, alongside a Sargent jumper, for an 11-0 run of their own, to put the margin back at one, 49-48, with 10:18 remaining.
A Williams three later made it 55-53, ahead of a 7-0 run by San Jose State, Pierce driving the lane and laying the ball in while drawing a foul at the end of it. A Wright jumper moved the cushion back into double digits at 65-55 a short time later, and the Spartans converted on five-of-eight free throw attempts over the remaining 2:41 to come away with the win.
“The phrase for us is we found a way,” remarked Nessman. “We had to overcome some adversity, in losing C.J. at the start of the second half, but the guys just dug in, and they executed some things down the stretch that we like to do. We did a much better job of taking care of the ball in the second half, other than a little bumble there late. It was a solid win on the road. I think that’s the best way to describe it.”
Pierce’s points came on 6-of-11 shooting from the field, including 2-of-4 from long range, and a 9-of-15 rate from the stripe. Oakes made six of his nine shots from the field, and added a pair of blocks. His 13 boards were his Spartan high, and match his collegiate high from his Pepperdine days in 2005.
Justin Graham was a third San Jose State player in double-figure scoring, with 11 points. Thomas had six points, six boards, and team highs of three assists and two steals. Webster managed seven points in 18 minutes prior to leaving with an apparent ankle injury.
For South Dakota State, Callahan poured in 19 points, primarily on 5-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc, with backcourt mate Sargent adding 14 to go along with eight rebounds and a game-high four assists. Anthony Cordova made things difficult at times for the Spartans inside, winding up with a double-double of his own with 13 points and a game-high 15 boards. Williams rounded out the quartet of Jacks in double figures, with 13 points.
The Spartans were out-rebounded, 46-39, and committed more turnovers than SDSU, 14-12, but hit 10 more free throws to account for the final margin, and shot 47 percent from the field, compared to 34 percent for the hosts.
Alongside Amberry, Robert Owens, a junior transfer from City College of San Francisco, registered his major college debut. Lance Olivier made his first career road appearance.
Utah State 71, Montana State-Northern 50
LOGAN, Utah - Senior forward Gary Wilkinson scored a career-high 24 points and added 12 rebounds to lead Utah State past Montana State-Northern, 71-50, in its season opener here Friday night. The Lights came into the game with a perfect 6-0 record.
Utah State improved its home winning streak to 18 games and has now won 54 straight non-conference games at home during the regular season.
Wilkinson, who was 9-of-10 from the field, recorded his eight career double-double in the game as his 12 boards were just one shy of his career-high set last year. Sophomore forward Tai Wesley added 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists for the home team, while sophomore guard Tyler Newbold finished with nine points and three rebounds.
Travis Noble had 18 points to lead Montana State-Northern.
Wilkinson and Wesley scored the first four points of the game for Utah State on back-to-back layups, and USU extended its lead to 10 at 27-17 on two free throws by Wilkinson with 5:14 to play. Junior guard Jared Quayle made two free throws in the final minute of the first-half to make the score 35-25 at intermission.
Utah State shot 52.2 percent from the field (12-23) in the first-half as compared to 40.9 percent shooting (9-22) for Montana State-Northern. Wilkinson led USU in the first 20 minutes as he had 14 points and eight rebounds.
Utah State increased its lead to 16 points at 43-27 early in the second-half on a layup by Wesley before the Lights scored seven straight points to get back within single digits. USU responded with a 25-6 run over the next nine minutes to lead 68-40 with just over five minutes to play.
Utah State finished the game by shooting 54.3 percent from the field (25-46), 33.3 percent from three-point range (2-6), and 61.3 percent from the free throw line (19-31). Montana State-Northern shot 38.5 percent overall (20-52), including 36.4 percent from behind the arc (8-22), and 40.0 percent from the free throw line (2-5). USU also out-rebounded MSUN, 39-23, and recorded 18 assists in the game while committing just eight turnovers.
Next up for Utah State will be its first road game of the season on Monday, Nov. 17 at UC Santa Barbara. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. (MT).