Utah State 78, Idaho 58
Box Score
LOGAN, Utah - Jaycee Carroll scored a game-high 23 points to lead Utah State to a share of its first-ever Western Athletic Conference regular season championship with a 78-58 win against Idaho here at the Cowan Spectrum Saturday night.
Utah State, who finished the regular season with five straight wins, has now won at least 23 games in each of the last nine years. The Aggies concluded WAC play by winning three games in six days to create a four-way tie at the top of the league standings as USU, Nevada, New Mexico State and Boise State all had 12-4 conference records.
Utah State will enter next week's WAC Tournament as the top seed due to its 4-2 record against the three other co-WAC Champions. Nevada will be the second-seed in the tournament, followed by host New Mexico State who is the third seed and Boise State who is the fourth seed. The bottom half of the bracket will feature fifth-seeded Hawai'i, sixth-seeded Idaho, seventh-seeded Fresno State, eighth-seeded San Jose State and ninth-seeded Louisiana Tech.
Gary Wilkinson added 17 points for Utah State as he and Carroll, who had 16 of his points in the second-half, were the only two Aggies to reach double-figures.
Trevor Morris led Idaho with 14 points off the bench, while Clyde Johnson scored 13 and Mike Hall had 10.
Utah State began the game with a 10-2 run and led by 12 at 17-5 with 14:20 to play following a dunk by Tyler Newbold. The visitors, who made eight of its first 11 shots in the game, increased its lead to 39-19 on a dunk by Stephen DuCharme and went into the locker room with a 41-24 halftime advantage.
In the first-half, Utah State shot a blistering 65.4 from the field (17-26) and limited Idaho to just 34.5 percent shooting (4-14). USU was also 3-5 (.600) from three-point range and 4-4 from the free throw line in the opening period, while UI was 4-14 (.286) from behind the arc. The Vandals did not attempt a single free throw in the first period.
Wilkinson and Newbold each scored eight points in the first-half for Utah State, while Johnson had nine for Idaho.
Utah State was never threatened in the second-half as Idaho never got closer than 16 points. USU took its biggest lead of the game at 24 points on a layup by Carroll to make the score 71-47 with 4:59 remaining and the Aggies coasted to the 20-point win.
Utah State finished the game by shooting 63.6 percent from the field (28-44) as compared to just 37.7 percent shooting (20-53) for Idaho. USU was also 19-22 (.864) from the free throw line as compared to 14-19 (.737) shooting at the charity stripe for the Vandals. USU once again dominated the boards, out-rebounded Idaho, 34-19.
New Mexico State 106, Hawai`i 71
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) -Justin Hawkins scored a career-high 37 points as New Mexico State beat Hawaii 106-71 Saturday night to gain a share of its first Western Athletic Conference basketball title.
The Aggies (19-13, 12-4 WAC) raced to a 50-29 halftime lead and coasted to victory in handing Hawaii (11-18, 7-9) its sixth consecutive loss heading into the upcoming conference tournament.
Hawkins had 21 points in the first half and bettered his previous career-high of 29 points.
New Mexico State led by as many as 39 in the second half in avenging a 94-71 loss to the Rainbow Warriors on Jan. 31 at Honolulu.
Riley Luettgerodt paced Hawaii with a career-high 26 points and 7 rebounds while Matt Gibson added 16 points.
The Aggies hit 7-of-10 3-point shots in the first half and wound up making 51 percent of their field goals in the game.
They also outrebounded Hawaii by a 65-29 margin.
Nevada 76, Fresno State 63
Box Score
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Fresno State's Kevin Bell scored 12 points and had a career-high 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs against Nevada. The two teams meet again Thursday in the first round of the 2008 WAC Tournament.
Marcelus Kemp scored 25 points and JaVale McGee added 23 points and 14 rebounds as Nevada defeated Fresno State 76-63 on Saturday night to clinch a share of the Western Athletic Conference title.
Nevada (20-10 overall, 12-4 WAC) finished the regular season in a four-way tie with Boise State, Utah State and New Mexico State atop the WAC standings.
After leading by five points at halftime, the Wolf Pack pulled away early in the second half when Kemp scored seven points on consecutive possessions, including a four-point play.
Hector Hernandez had 15 points for Fresno State (13-18, 5-11), which shot 33.3 percent from the field, compared to Nevada's 48.4 percent.
Kevin Bell added 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for the Bulldogs, who said goodbye to six seniors playing their final home game at the Save Mart Center.
It was the fifth-straight WAC regular-season title for Nevada, which will be the No. 2 seed at next week's WAC Tournament in Las Cruces, N.M., behind top-seeded Utah State. The Wolf Pack won its previous four titles outright.
Nevada and Fresno State, the No. 7 seed, will face off again Thursday in the first round of the WAC tournament.
Fresno State trailed by 10 points early in the second half before closing to within 46-43 on Eddie Miller's 3-pointer with 14:39 remaining.
Kemp answered with a 3-pointer, then hit another on Nevada's next possession while drawing a foul on Tyson Parker. Kemp made the free throw to put the Wolf Pack in front 53-43 with 13:05 left. Nevada maintained at least an eight-point lead for the rest of the game.
The Wolf Pack led 36-31 at halftime when Brandon Fields banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Freshman Ned Golubovic kept Fresno State within striking distance by scoring 11 of the Bulldogs' final 12 points of the half.
The 6-foot-8 Golubovic hit a 3-pointer with 6:03 left, then began taking the ball inside against the 7-foot McGee. Golubovic scored all 11 of his points during the surge.
Louisiana Tech 87, San Jose State 83
RUSTON, La. - A career-high 28 points from Kyle Gibson and double-digit efforts from four other players gave Louisiana Tech its second consecutive victory, an 87-83 Senior Night victory over San Jose State at the Thomas Assembly Center on Saturday night.
"Our whole thing was about finishing strong," Tech head coach Kerry Rupp said. "We've always talked about having three seasons. The third season is the WAC Tournament where everybody starts 0-0. Again, I'm proud that our guys never gave up. We got the lead in the first half and they came right back on us. But we had to dig in, fight and battle and find a way to gut it out and win the ball game. We had to put bodies on people and step up, take charges and make them take tough shots."
Gibson, the only underclassman among the top 10 scorers in the Western Athletic Conference, played all 40 minutes and burned the nets with his 28 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including a 4-for-7 effort from three-point range. It was the 18th time this season that Gibson led the Bulldogs in scoring. Jonathan "JC" Clark added 16 points and James Loe had 15, while Dwayne Lathan and Orren Tims added 11 apiece off the bench.
J.J. Marshall, the lone senior for Louisiana Tech (6-23, 3-13 WAC), got his first career start and played six minutes, dishing out a career-best three assists.
San Jose State (12-18, 4-12 WAC) was led by C.J. Webster, who had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds on the night. Jamon Hill took top honors for the Spartans with 19 points, while Tim Pierce, Chris Oakes and DeVonte Thomas had 18, 13 and 12, respectively.
The Bulldogs won the game despite being more than doubled up in the rebounding department; the Spartans pulled down 46 boards to Tech's 21. But 51.9-percent shooting - including an amazing 9-of-13 effort from three-point range in the first half - carried the Bulldogs to the victory.
Things couldn't have gone much better for Tech in the first half. Clark and Gibson combined to knock down five 3-pointers, helping the Bulldogs jump out to a lead as big as 13 points with under two minutes to play. A pair of layups wrapped around a Tech free throw would shrink the lead to 10 at the half.
San Jose would come out of the locker room on fire, though. The Spartans would open the second half on a 20-8 run, taking a two-point lead at the 13:46 mark. Almost all of their points during that stretch came on second-chance attempts as the Bulldogs did not pull down a rebound - this one offensive - until the 13:03 mark. By that time, San Jose had a four-point lead.
From that point on, the lead would change hands seven times and there would be six ties as the teams traded baskets over the next eight-plus minutes. A driving layup from Loe with just over four minutes to play would give Tech a 73-71 lead.
Free throws down the stretch would be pivotal as Loe, Lathan and Clark would hit eight of 10 shots in the final 2:30 to preserve the victory.
Tonight's game turned out to be a preview of the opening round of the 2008 WAC Tournament, which begins Tuesday in Las Cruces, N.M. Louisiana Tech and San Jose State will meet for the third time this season on Tuesday night to kick off postseason play.
"You have to bring your best game," Rupp said about the WAC Tournament. "We want to keep moving forward as a team. As long as we have games to play, we can keep moving forward. I think we've made tremendous strides. Everybody has to stay focused and give great energy and enthusiasm."