Boise State 78, Hawai`i 71
The Boise State men’s basketball team has won at least a share of the WAC championship. The Broncos defeated Hawaii 78-71 Saturday night in Honolulu, and they can wrap up an outright regular-season championship by beating Utah State on Thursday at Taco Bell Arena.
BSU (22-7 overall, 12-3 WAC) would earn the top seed for the WAC Tournament in Las Cruces, N.M. The winner of the WAC Tournament earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, while the regular-season champ is guaranteed of an NIT berth should it not make the Big Dance.
BSU hasn’t played in the NCAA Tournament since 1994.
Saturday’s win ? BSU’s first ever over Hawaii on the Rainbow Warriors’ home court ? gave coach Greg Graham’s team its first WAC title since joining the conference in 2001.
Reggie Larry had a big game, scoring 23 points to help compensate for the absence of Matt Nelson. Nelson didn’t make the trip after injuring his ankle in Thursday night’s win at San Jose State.
Courtesy of www.IdahoStatesman.com
Idaho 69, San Jose State 67
SAN JOSE, Calif. ? Jordan Brooks nailed two free throws with 3.3 seconds remaining to give the University of Idaho men’s basketball team a 69-67 victory at San Jose State Saturday and complete a tough road sweep that has already done in the likes of Utah State and Nevada this season.
Trailing 67-65 with 2:02 remaining, Darin Nagle grabbed an offensive rebound on a missed free throw and then hit the go-ahead 3-pointer later in the possession with 1:34 remaining. San Jose State tied the score on its next possession and Idaho again grabbed an offensive rebound on a missed lay-in to set up an opportunity for the last shot with 33 seconds remaining. Brooks drove the lane and was fouled with 3.3 seconds remaining. After the free throws, the Spartans were not able to get off a shot in time and the Vandals came away with their second-consecutive victory.
“Darin’s rebound was monster off of the free throw miss,” Idaho coach George Pfeifer said. “That is something that we practice because of the way we shoot free throws, but for him to come down with it allowed us another chance. You can say the free throws were the play of the game, but without that rebound we are looking at a different scenario.
“It will be nice to lay my head on the pillow tonight and get some sleep and I’m sure a lot of people around Vandal nation feel the same way.”
Idaho (8-19, 5-10) moved into seventh place in the Western Athletic Conference standings with the win and San Jose State dropped to eighth place in the WAC (12-16, 4-10). The Vandals are now one-half game behind Fresno State for sixth place.
Michael Crowell led the Vandals for the third-consecutive game with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Mike Hall came off the bench to score 14 points and added season highs with seven rebounds and four steals. Nagle finished with 11 points and Brooks and Mike Kale each scored 10 points. Brooks also dished out eight assists and now has 22 assists in the last two games.
The key for Idaho was its season-low eight turnovers. The Vandals scored 21 points off of Spartan turnovers and gave up just 10 points in the category. Idaho tallied 11 steals and finished with 17 offensive rebounds.
The contest saw 17 lead changes and four ties. Idaho led by 11 at 26-15 with 6:08 remaining in the first half, but San Jose State pulled to within 31-28 at halftime. The Spartans moved ahead by five points on two occasions to start the second half before the seesaw battle began. San Jose State again pulled ahead by five at 58-53 with 7:24 remaining and Idaho moved ahead by three on two occasions in the final 5:07.
New Mexico State 69, Fresno State 64
FRESNO, Calif.-The New Mexico State men’s basketball team recorded a come from behind victory at Fresno State, 69-64, Saturday, March 1 in Fresno, Calif. Senior guard/forward Justin Hawkins had a team-high 14 points.
The Aggies were 4-of-4 from the free-throw line in the last 30 seconds of the game with senior center Hatila Passos and freshman guard Jahmar Young hitting vital free throws. For the first time this season, the Aggies earned a win after trailing at half.
Sophomore guard Jonathan Gibson added 12 points while both senior guard Fred Peete and freshman forward Herb Pope supplied 11.
With the Aggies trailing 64-63 at the 1:35 mark, NMSU and Pope answered with a jumper to take the 65-64 advantage. After a pair of misses from both teams, Fresno State senior guard Kevin Bell lost the handle on the way to the basketball and Passos stepped up and stole the ball. Then Young was fouled on the outlet pass and he proceed to make both free throws to give the Aggies the 67-64 lead. After a solid defensive stand, Passos gave the Aggies a five-point lead, 69-64, with a pair of free throws.
In addition to the victory, Hawkins recorded an individual milestone when he became the 24th-member of the Aggie 1,000-point club at the 13:30 mark with a dunk on a cross-court pass from Peete.
The Aggies recorded their first lead of the game, 49-48, with 9:24 remaining on a lay-up from Gibson on an inbounds play.
The Aggie offense was extremely balanced in the first half with Gibson leading the way with five points. Hawkins, Pope and Passos added four points apiece but NMSU was behind 30-24 at the break.
The first half was two different stories for the Aggies. The NMSU offense came alive in the second 10:00 when Passos’ jumper began a 10-0 run.
Nevada 87, Louisiana Tech 57
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Sophomore JaVale McGee scored a career-high 26 points to lead the Nevada Wolf Pack to an 87-57 romp over Louisiana Tech in a Western Athletic Conference men's basketball game Saturday night.
McGee knocked down 12-of-14 shots and helped Nevada finish the game shooting a season-best 66 percent from the field. The Wolf Pack also had a huge edge on the boards, outrebounding its guests 37-19.
Louisiana Tech was just 20-of-55 (36.4 percent) from the field.
Nevada never trailed after the opening three minutes and improved to 19-10 overall and 11-4 in WAC play. The win was Nevada coach Mark Fox's 100th career victory.
Louisiana Tech (4-23, 1-13 WAC) never got closer than 16 points after the intermission. That came after a driving layup by Dwayne Lathan made the score 47-31 with 16:29 to go in the second half. Kyle Gibson was the lone Louisiana Tech player to contribute double figures in the scoring column, finishing with 19 points.
The Wolf Pack led by as much as 37 points after a pair of free throws by freshman Armon Johnson with 7:25 to go in the game.
Sophomore Brandon Fields added 14 points and Johnson scored 10 for Nevada.