Utah State 72, Southern Utah 65
CEDAR CITY, Utah (AP)-- Jared Quayle scored 23 points, and Utah State went 9-for-10 from the foul line in the final 30 seconds, as the Aggies held off Southern Utah 72-65 Wednesday.
Utah State (7-1, 0-0 WAC) led 60-50 with 5:18 left, but Southern Utah closed the gap to 65-63 when David Marek was fouled behind the 3-point line and made all three free throws with 26.2 seconds left.
Quayle hit five foul shots and Jaxon Myaer made two more in the last 20 seconds to clinch the win.
Marek led Southern Utah (3-7, 2-0 Summit) with 21 points, while Tyler Quinney scored 20 and John Clifford added 14.
Gary Wilkinson scored 17 points for the Aggies, who shot 61 percent in the first half and 56 percent overall. Utah State also got 15 points from reserve Stavon Williams.
Utah State edged the Thunderbirds on the boards 27-25.
New Mexico State 88, Prairie View A&M 74
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) -- Sophomore forward Wendell McKines tied his career high with a game-high 19 points to lead New Mexico State past Prairie View A&M 88-74 on Wednesday.
McKines added a game-high 12 rebounds for his fourth straight game with double figure points and rebounds.
The Aggies (5-4) have won three straight, while Prairie View A&M (3-7) has lost three straight.
New Mexico State also got 16 points from Jonathan Gibson, 13 points from Jahmar Young and 12 points from Troy Gillenwater.
The Aggies went on an 18-7 run to extend their lead from 53-46 to 71-53 with 7:46 left.
The Aggies shot 51.5 percent from the field and are now 5-0 at the Pan American Center this year.
The Panthers were led by Christopher Jones with 15 points and Dorian McDaniel with 14. The Panthers shot just 36.5 percent from the field for the game.
The Aggies took a 47-36 lead at the halftime break behind 8 of 14 shooting from 3-point range.
Gibson made four 3-pointers. Guards Gordo Castillo and Young added eight for the Aggies, who made 10 of their first 12 shots in the opening half. The Aggies shot 55.9 percent in the opening half.
New Mexico State used an 11-4 run to extend its lead to 42-30 with 4:14 left in the half.
Prairie View kept it close early by hitting 8 of its first 16 shots and took a short-lived lead, 21-20, with 13:25 remaining in the half on a McDaniel 3-pointer.
Nevada 87, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 58
RENO, Nev. (AP)-- Brandon Fields scored a game-high 21 points, and the Nevada Wolf Pack whipped the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions, 87-58, Wednesday night at Lawlor Events Center.
Fields scored Nevada's (6-4) last eight points, all in the final two minutes. Nevada has now won three in a row, outscoring Sonoma State, Southern Illinois and Arkansas-Pine Bluff by an average of 29.7 points.
Gavin Montgomery led Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-8) with 20 points. The Golden Eagles, who have yet to play a home game this season, also got eight points from Savalance Townsend, Lebaron Weathers and Tyree Glass.
Armon Johnson added 17 points for Nevada. Luke Babbitt had 11 and Malik Cooke had 10 for the Wolf Pack.
Nevada dominated the last five minutes of the first half, outscoring Arkansas-Pine Bluff 14-5 to take a 37-25 halftime lead.
A dunk by Johnson off a lob pass from Fields highlighted the late run and gave Nevada a 29-20 lead with 3:44 to go in the opening half. Nevada, which has now won 16 of its last 20 home games, led by as much as 14 (37-23) in the first half.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff led just once in the game, 5-4 on a lay-up by Montgomery, and pulled into a tie just once at 12-12 after George Davis scored in the lane on a short jumper. Montgomery, who had a team-high 10 points in the first half, also hit a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to cut Nevada's lead to 11-10 with 11:53 to go in the first half.
Idaho 81, South Carolina State 68
MOSCOW, Idaho (Idaho Sports Information) ? The University of Idaho men’s basketball team had five players score in double figures and used a 19-8 run midway through the second half to pull away from South Carolina State in an 81-68 victory at home.
The Vandals (5-5) led for all but 24 seconds of the contest, but had trouble shaking the pesky Bulldogs (5-5). Idaho used the large run to pull away by 13 and never trailed by more than nine for the remainder of the contest.
“I felt we had control of the game we just couldn’t get away from them,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “We would get a run and either make a mistake or they would hit a three and we just couldn’t get away. It was really nice to see us make our free throws.”
Idaho hit 14-of-16 free throws in the final 7:51 and made just two baskets during that span. The Vandals hit all eight of their free throw attempts in the final 3:01.
“That’s how you win basketball games right there,” Verlin said. “We have been shooting a ton of free throws (in practice) so I’m glad it’s paying off.”
Mac Hopson led the Vandals with 18 points and six assists while Kashif Watson finished with 15 points and five rebounds. Brandon Wiley had a near double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds, Marvin Jefferson totaled 12 points, and Luciano de Souza came off the bench to add 11 points in 17 minutes.
As a team, the Vandals shot 25-of-55 (.455) from the floor and finished 26-of-33 (.788) from the free throw line. Idaho held a 30-28 advantage in rebounding and committed just nine turnovers for the second consecutive game.
“We did a great job rebounding and keeping them off the offensive glass and we got them to turn the ball over 20 times and that was the difference in the game. We played hard most of the game and didn’t make a lot of mistakes,” Verlin said.
Idaho scored the first basket and moved ahead 5-2 before South Carolina State tied the score at 5-5 for the only tie of the contest. The Bulldogs grabbed an 8-7 advantage with a 3-pointer at the 15:58 mark, but Hopson answered with a 3-point field goal at the 15:24 mark to give Idaho the lead for good. The Vandals used a 7-0 run midway through the half to go up 27-18 and grabbed their largest lead of the half at 35-25 with 2:32 remaining. South Carolina State used a small 5-2 run to trim Idaho’s halftime lead to 37-30.
The Vandals hit two free throws to pull ahead by nine as the second half started, but an 8-1 Bulldog run cut the score to 40-38 with 15:04 remaining. Idaho responded with an 8-0 run to move ahead by 10, but South Carolina State scored the next six points to cut the lead to four. The teams traded baskets before the Vandals pulled away for good with a 9-0 stretch over the next 3:23 that put them up 59-46 with 9:18 remaining. Idaho’s largest margin came at 81-66 on a fast break dunk from Jefferson with 30 seconds remaining and South Carolina State scored the final basket to make the score 81-66.
Idaho plays the second of three home games this week when it hosts Texas Southern Saturday (Dec. 20) at 3:05 p.m. at the Cowan Spectrum.