In Saturday's ESPNU BracketBusters matchups, Eddie Miller scored 25 points as Fresno State defeated Cal Poly, and New Mexico State extended its winning streak to five games with a win over Long Beach State. Utah State's Tai Wesley and Gary Wilkinson combined for 38 points and 21 rebounds to lead the Aggies past UC Santa Barbara on Friday.
Fresno State 76, Cal Poly 70
Box Score
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Eddie Miller scored 25 points and Kevin Bell added 19 points and nine assists to lead Fresno State over Cal Poly 76-70 on Saturday night.
Miller's 3-pointer with 2:28 left, his sixth of the game, put Fresno State (13-15) ahead for good in the nonconference game between Central California teams.
Lorenzo Keeler had 21 points and Trae Clark added 19 for Cal Poly (10-15), which fell short after rallying from a 10-point deficit in the final 14 minutes.
With Fresno State trailing 62-60, Tyson Parker tied the game with 3:13 left by tipping in his own missed layup. Following Miller's go-ahead 3-pointer, Bell dished to Parker for a fast-break layup that put the Bulldogs ahead 67-62 with 1:50 left.
Cal Poly began fouling on every possession, but Fresno State made 9 of 10 free throws down the stretch to keep the Mustangs at bay. Dwight O'Neil added 15 points for the Bulldogs.
Shawn Lewis had 14 for Cal Poly, which got only two points off the bench.
The Bulldogs won their second straight game despite being outrebounded 41-35 and committing 18 turnovers compared Cal Poly's 14.
Fresno State led 41-33 at halftime thanks to an 8-0 surge midway through the period capped by consecutive 3-pointers by O'Neil and Miller.
New Mexico State 80, Long Beach State 48
Box Score
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) -Herb Pope scored 14 points and Justin Hawkins added 13 as New Mexico State beat Long Beach State 80-48 Saturday night to push its winning streak to five games.
Pope, a freshman, was 6-for-10 from the floor for the Aggies (16-12, 9-3 WAC) while Hawkins grabbed 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.
Cornel Williams scored 10 points to pace Long Beach State (6-20, 3-9), which lost its third straight. Donovan Morris, who entered the game averaging 21.3 points for the 49ers, was held to nine.
Long Beach State missed its first 14 shots from the floor and trailed 33-17 at halftime.
New Mexico State opened the second half with a 14-5 run to take a 25-point lead with 16:29 left.
The 49ers were outrebounded 55-26 and shot just 27 percent from the field.
It was the first meeting of the two teams in eight years, when both were members of the Big West Conference.
Siena 93, Boise State 70
Box Score
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Alex Franklin had 30 points and 18 rebounds, and Edwin Ubiles added 22 points as Siena posted a 93-70 victory over Boise State on Saturday night.
Siena (17-10) never trailed. The Saints, from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, went on a 12-0 run to take a 21-9 lead with 5:10 gone.
Boise State (20-7) narrowed its deficit to 45-40 at halftime and pulled to within 48-46 two minutes into the second half on a basket by Matt Nelson, who finished with 20 points.
Led by Kenny Hasbrouck, who wound up with 19 points, and Ubiles, the Saints then pulled steadily ahead, finishing the game on a 13-5 run.
Siena held Boise State's leading scorer, Reggie Larry, to only eight points, 10 below his season's average.
Tyler Tiedeman scored 12 points and Jamar Greene 10 for the Broncos, who played without starting guard Matt Bauscher. Bauscher rolled an ankle in practice this week.
The smaller Saints outrebounded the Western Athletic Conference Broncos 44-36 and outscored Boise State 46-28 in the key. Siena used its quickness to force 20 turnovers, while committing only nine themselves.
UC Riverside 79, Hawai?i 62
Box Score
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - A short-handed University of Hawai`i men's basketball team dropped its third straight road game with 79-62 non-conference loss Saturday night at the UCR Student Recreation Center. It was the first-ever meeting between the programs, which were paired together earlier this month as part of the O'Reilly's ESPNU BracketBusters pool.
Larry Cunningham scored a season-high 31 points to lead the Highlanders (7-17) to its second straight home win. Cunningham become the school's all-time leading scorer in the win with nearly 1400 career points. Hawai`i, meanwhile, dropped to 11-14 on the season.
All five UH starters finished in double-figures, but with starting point guard Matt Gibson sidelined due to injury, UH failed to find a rhythm all game. Kareem Nitoto, starting in place of Gibson, scored a career-high 13 points, while Riley Luettgerodt also finished with 13. Bobby Nash poured in 12 and Jared Dillinger and Bill Amis each contributed 10.
Expect for a brief one-point UH lead five minutes into the game, UCR held control for the entire game. UCR made its move midway through the first half going on a 13-2 run that gave the Highlanders its first double-digit lead of the game. UH cut the lead to six points but the `Bows went without a field goal in the final 6:24 of the half. UH made just six field goals in the first half and trailed by 14 points, 34-20 at the break.
UCR extended its lead to 17 points early in the second half and UH would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way. With UH trying to make a surge in the final minutes, the Highlanders sealed the game at the free throw line where they scored 15 of their final 17 points.
The Highlanders shot 57 percent for the game and 62 percent in the second half. Cunningham, who scored 16 of the first 22 points to jumpstart his team, made 10 of his 15 field goal attempts and all eight of his free throws.
UH was able to get to the line 30 times and converted 25 free throws against an aggressive UCR defense. But UH scored just 20 first-half points, its second-lowest output of the season and could never dig out of its halftime deficit.
UC Irvine 69, Idaho 55
Box Score
IRVINE, Calif. ? The University of Idaho men’s basketball team fell 69-55 at UC Irvine as part of the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters basketball extravaganza Saturday.
Michael Crowell scored a career high 21 points on five 3-pointers and Jordan Brooks earned a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. The Vandals (6-19) were hampered by 39-percent shooting while the Anteaters (12-14) shot 47-percent from the floor. Idaho also committed 21 turnovers which lead to 16 points for UC Irvine.
Outside of Crowell and Brooks, the rest of the Idaho team hit just nine field goals. The Vandals did hit seven 3-pointers and held a 34-31 advantage in rebounding.
The game stayed close through most of the first half and was tied for the fourth time at 13-13 with 7:23 remaining. Idaho took a 17-15 advantage, but UC Irvine used a 7-0 run to move ahead by five with 1:59 remaining in the half. The Vandals cut the lead to two on a Crowell 3-pointer, but the Anteaters scored the final six points to move ahead 28-20 at half time.
UC Irvine moved ahead by 10 points to start the second half and later led by 12 on two occasions. The Anteaters led 40-26 with 12:53 remaining, but the Vandals cut the margin to eight with six straight points. Idaho later pulled within six points at 43-37 with 8:48 remaining and trailed by seven with 7:44 to go. UC Irvine responded with back-to-back 3-pointers to move ahead by 13 points and later earned its largest advantage at 57-39 with 4:18 remaining. Idaho came no closer than 13 points over the remaining four minutes before the 69-55 final score.
Samford 73, Louisiana Tech 70, OT
Box Score
RUSTON -- Louisiana Tech (4-21; 1-11 WAC) could not hang on in overtime Saturday night as Samford (13-14; 9-9 OVC) bested Tech by a final score of 73-70 in front of 1,240 fans in the Thomas Assembly Center.
After falling behind by as many as 10 points in the first half, Tech's Bulldogs battled back to trail only 28-23 going into the halftime locker room. Freshman Orren Tims scored nine by himself in the first half to keep the Bulldogs in the game.
Tech would finally tied the game for the first time on a Tims lay-up with 16:06 left in the ballgame for a 34-34 score. It would be the first of 10 total ties throughout the night; all in the second half and overtime.
The Bulldogs would claim their first lead of the night nearly 10 minutes later with another basket from Tims for a 51-49 lead with 6:09 left in the game. Tech's largest lead of the night would be four points before Samford scored the last two buckets of regulation to force overtime with a 61-61 score.
Samford scored the first six points of overtime for a 67-61 lead with 2:55 left to play before Tech rallied back to take the lead with seven unanswered points for a 68-67 lead. Samford, however, would outscore Tech 6-2 for the remainder of the night to take home the 73-70 win.
Tims led all Tech scorers with 19 points, while sophomore Kyle Gibson finished with 15. Junior Drew Washington tallied 13 points, while junior James Loe added 10. Brian Friday led Samford with 20.
Southern Illinois 74, Nevada 49
Box Score
CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) - Randal Falker scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the second half to lead Southern Illinois to a 74-49 victory over Nevada on Saturday.
The ESPN BracketBusters win was the most lopsided of the season for the Salukis (16-12), who have won four in a row for the first time this season.
Matt Shaw added 13 points and 8 rebounds for Southern Illinois, while Tyrone Green had 11 points - hitting 5-of-6 from the free throw line - and added four assists. The Salukis were 14-of-16 from the line as a team, hitting 4-of-4 in the first half. The Wolf Pack made just 7-of-13 free throws.
JaVale McGee, Armon Johnson and Marcelus Kemp had 12 apiece for Nevada (16-10). The team committed 21 turnovers and shot just 38 percent from the field.
Nevada jumped out to an 8-3 lead early, but Southern Illinois led 37-22 by the half. The Salukis led by as many as 29 points in the second half.
Pacific 84, San Jose State 75
Box Score
STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) -- Chad Troyer scored a game-high 19 points to lead Pacific to an 84-75 victory over San Jose State in a ESPNU BracketBusters game Saturday night.
Steffan Johnson had 15 points and a game-high six assists, and Anthony Brown had 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds for the Tigers, who ended a three-game losing streak to improve to 18-9.
Pacific scored 18 points off 13 San Jose turnovers and the Tigers' bench outscored San Jose's 60-15. Pacific led comfortably throughout the second half and was ahead by double digits down the stretch before San Jose made a late run to get within five points twice in the final two minutes.
But the Spartans (12-14) couldn't get any closer as Pacific's final 12 points came on free throws. James Doran also scored 10 points for Pacific, which began the game with five new starters.
Chris Oakes led San Jose with 16 points and eight rebounds. Justin Graham had 15 points and Tim Pierce scored 12 points for the Spartans.
After eight early lead changes, a 3-pointer by Graham gave the Spartans a 23-16 lead midway through the first half -- their biggest lead of the game.
But Pacific answered with a 17-6 run, and then took a 40-34 halftime lead as Doran made a 3-pointer and two free throws in the final minute of the half.
San Jose crept within two points early in the second half, but Troyer made a 3-pointer to begin a 10-4 spurt and Pacific's lead never fell below five points the rest of the game. Troyer finished 5 of 6 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Friday’s ESPNU BracketBusters Results
Utah State 72, UC Santa Barbara 59
LOGAN, Utah - Tai Wesley and Gary Wilkinson combined for 38 points and 21 rebounds to lead Utah State past UC Santa Barbara, 72-59, in an ESPNU BracketBuster men's basketball game Friday night at a soldout Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. The remaining eight WAC schools will be in action on Saturday.
The win snaps USU's three-game losing streak as the Aggies improved to 19-9 overall while UCSB is now 20-7 with the loss. It was Utah State's 53rd home win in a row over a non-conference opponent, the second-longest in the country behind Duke's 57 in a row.
The Aggies also remain unbeaten at home this season, improving to 15-0, the only team in the Western Athletic Conference with an unblemished home ledger on the year. USU's 15-game home winning streak is the 13th-longest in the country.
With the victory USU improves to 37-22 overall vs. UCSB, a former Big West foe, and the Aggies have now won five in a row against the Gauchos.
Wesley, a freshman forward from Provo, Utah, tallied a game-high 24 points to go along with nine rebounds while junior forward Wilkinson, a South Jordan, Utah, native, posted 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. It was Wilkinson's team-leading fourth double-double of the season in helping USU improve to 140-12 at home under head coach Stew Morrill.
Senior All-American guard Jaycee Carroll was held to just six points in the first half but netted nine in the second half to finish with 15, USU's third player in double-figures on the night. The Evanston, Wyo., native has now posted double-digits in all 28 games this season.
The Aggies hit 54.2 percent (26-of-48) of their shots, making four of their 10 three-pointers (40.0 percent). USU also made more free throws than UCSB attempted, hitting 16-of-21 (76.2 percent) while UCSB was 8-of-11 (72.7 percent).
The first half was back-and-forth, as Powell hit a three-pointer at the 4:12 mark to knot the score at 21-all, the seventh tie of the half. The Aggies pulled away to lead 28-24 at intermission, improving to 17-3 when leading at halftime while the Gauchos fell to 1-5 when trailing at the break.
Senior guard Kris Clark (Wilmington, N.C.) hit a three-pointer from the left wing at 13:34 for a 39-29 USU lead but UCSB countered with six unanswered points to pull within, 39-35, on a Harris layup. Wesley sparked and capped a 12-0 run to give USU its largest lead of the night at 63-48 with 2:54 left and the Aggies coasted to the victory.
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