Idaho 75, San Jose State 67
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Looking at a 60-55 deficit with 4:58 left in the game, the University of Idaho men’s basketball team unleashed a 17-2 scoring run and stunned the host San Jose State Spartans by a 75-67 margin on Saturday at The Event Center.
Idaho (9-6, 3-1 Western Athletic Conference) trailed for a majority of the game, and didn’t lead by more than a single possession until 2:03 remained in the contest. San Jose State (8-7, 0-4 WAC) led by as many as eight points and held four- to five-point leads for most of the game.
After eliminating a five-point deficit to tie things up at 60-60 with 3:33 remaining, Idaho surrendered a pair of free throws, but then rattled off 12 unanswered points and held SJSU to six straight misses to seize complete control of the game.
“When the score was tied 60-60, I thought we made a number of great defensive plays, and Jeff stepped up and made some shots, we finished our ball, we made our free throws down the stretch, and that’s what you’ve got to do on the road,” Idaho head coach Don Verlin said.
It was another balanced effort by Idaho, which had five scorers in double figures, and tied a season high with 21 assists on 27 made baskets. It was also Idaho’s first WAC road sweep under Verlin and the first since 2007-08 and Idaho’s 3-1 conference record is its best conference start since 2004-05, when the Vandals also started 3-1 in the Big West.
Junior guard Deremy Geiger led the Vandals with 17 points, and set career highs with five rebounds and six assists. Senior Jeff Ledbetter put in 13 points, all in the second half, while junior forward Luiz Toledo also dropped in 13, and added nine boards. Senior Shawn Henderson and sophomore Kyle Barone added 11 points apiece, while Henderson had four rebounds and Barone had five.
“The stat I like the best is 21 assists, 11 turnovers,” Verlin said. “We played very well down the stretch and in the entire second half.”
After a sluggish opening half as a team, Idaho came back with energy in the second – the Vandals hit just 36.7 percent (11-30) of their first-half shots, then came back and shot 66.7 percent (16-24) in the second period. Idaho finished the game shooting 27-of-54 (.500) from the field and 6-of-18 (.333) from 3-point range.By contrast, San Jose State hit a 44.8 (13-29) percent clip in the first half, but managed just 30.3 (10-33) shooting in the second, including an 18.2 percent effort from 3-point range. For the game, the Spartans shot 23-of-62 (.371) overall and 5-of-19 (.263) from 3-point range.
“I thought we were a little road-weary the first half there, and had some tired legs, but I thought in the second half, the guys played really hard and played well, and I really liked what I saw,” Verlin said after the game.
San Jose State out-rebounded Idaho, 36-32, and outscored the Vandals 13-7 on second-chance points. Both teams committed 11 turnovers, but the Spartans outscored Idaho 14-9 in points off giveaways. The Vandals held a 26-16 advantage in the paint and a 15-14 edge off the bench.
No matter what the Spartans did, Idaho just seemed to stick around. SJSU made a strong push at the end of the first period and extended its lead to 35-27 at the half, but the Vandals opened up the second stanza with a 13-4 run that gave them a 40-39 lead at the 15:47 mark.
Again, SJSU appeared poised to pull away after scoring six straight to go up 45-40, then again when they pulled ahead 60-55 with just 4:58 left in the game. That was when the Vandals made their move.
A Jeff Ledbetter 3-pointer, followed by a Shawn Henderson jumper tied things up at 60-all at the 3:33 media timeout. SJSU’s Adrian Oliver, who led all scorers with 25 points, knocked down a pair of free throws to put the hosts back up by two, but then a balanced Idaho attack went 3-for-3 from the field and made 6-of-7 free throws over the next 2:39, while simultaneously holding the Spartans 0-for-6 from the field.
Henderson said the team’s mindset in the final huddle before the run was simple.
“Give it everything you’ve got. There’s only three minutes left, then it’s over,” Henderson said. “You don’t have to run, play any more defense, or set any more screens, it’s three minutes and it’s done, so just give it all you’ve got.”
Idaho went up 72-62 with 40 seconds remaining and the Spartans weren’t able to close the gap closer than eight points in the final seconds.
SJSU jumped out to a 7-2 lead at 16:46 of the first, but Idaho clawed back with a 7-2 run of its own over the next three minutes to bring the score to 11-9 in San Jose State’s favor. The Spartans would open leads of as many as six on two occasions before the three-minute, when a Calvin Douglas jumper put SJSU up by seven points at 31-24 with 2:57 to go in the half.
SJSU’s Graham hit an elbow jumper with one second left in the period to send the Spartans into the break with a 35-27 lead.
Idaho won’t get too much of a break before another tough test, when Nevada visits the Cowan Spectrum on Wednesday, Jan. 12. That game will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and will tip off at 8:05 p.m. (PST). The Wolf Pack lost on Saturday by an 81-67 margin at Utah State and is 4-12 overall, and 1-2 in the WAC this year.
New Mexico State 80, Fresno State 68
LAS CRUCES (AP)-Troy Gillenwater scored 19 points to go with 10 rebounds to lead New Mexico State to an 80-68 victory over Fresno State on Saturday in Las Cruces, N.M.
The Aggies (8-9, 2-1 Western Athletic) outscored Fresno State 43-37 in the second half and shot 58 percent for the game.
Hernst Laroche and Hamidu Rahman each scored 11 points and Tshilidzi Nephawe added 10.
Kevin Olekaibe led Fresno State (7-7, 3-1) as the only Bulldog in double figures with 23 points.
Neither team led by more than seven in the first half, but the Aggies finished off a tired Fresno State club, playing its third game in six days, with a 14-4 run in the first 6:17 of the second half. Hamidu Rahman’s three-point play put NMSU up 51-35 with 13:43 to play.
The Bulldogs closed to within 10 with 8:33 to play, but shot 4-of 15 (25.8 percent) from 3-point range in the second half and 8-of-31 for the game from long range.
New Mexico State outscored Fresno 15-3 in the last 5:43 of the first half for a 37-31 halftime break.
The Aggies were 11-of-14 from the foul line during the run while Fresno State was 1-for-3 from the foul line, going scoreless for nearly five minutes. NMSU finished 26-of-37 from the foul line for the game.
Utah State 81, Nevada 67
RENO, Nev. - Senior forward Tai Wesley scored 15 of his team-high 21 points in the second-half and Utah State shot a season-high 62 percent from the field in a come-from-behind 81-67 win here against Nevada Saturday in a nationally televised game on ESPNU.
Trailing 49-39 with 14:11 to play in the game, Utah State went on a 22-5 run over the next 7:17 to take a 61-54 advantage following a Wesley layup. Nevada got back within four at 71-67 with 2:26 to play, but USU finished the game on a 10-0 run for the 14-point victory. During the final 9:40, Utah State held the Wolf Pack to 1-of-8 shooting from the field.
Utah State tied its season-high in points scored with 81, while its 50 second-half points are its most in a half since scoring 54 first-half points at home against Hawai'i on Jan. 11, 2010. In the second-half, USU shot 69.2 percent (18-26).
Utah State, who won its ninth-straight game overall and 17th-straight Western Athletic Conference game dating back to last season, improves to 14-2 overall and 3-0 in league play with the win. Nevada falls to 4-12 with the loss including a 1-2 WAC mark.
Utah State also improved to 13-0 on the season when out-rebounding its opponents as it had a 32-29 advantage on the boards Saturday.
Wesley finished the game shooting 8-of-10 from the field and 5-of-8 from the free throw line as he moved ahead of Dean Hunger (1977-80) and Nate Harris (2003-06) and into 11th-place all-time in school history in scoring with 1,491 career points.
Junior guard Brockeith Pane scored in double-figures for the fifth-straight game with 17 points as he was 7-of-10 from the field. Junior forward Brady Jardine joined Wesley and Pane in double-figures as he finished with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 shooting from the charity stripe. Jardine, who scored in double-figures for the first time in 10 games, had all but one of his points in the second-half.
Utah State also got a solid game from senior guard Pooh Williams who had a career-high seven assists and a season-high five rebounds in a season-high 33 minutes.
Olek Czyz led all scorers with 25 points for Nevada, while Malik Story had 18.
Utah State finished the game by shooting 31-of-50 from the field (.620), 4-of-12 from three-point range (.333) and 15-of-24 from the free throw line (.625). Nevada shot 39.2 percent for the game (20-51), including 31.6 percent from behind the arc (6-19) and 70.0 percent at the charity stripe (21-30).
Utah State built an early 9-3 lead and later led by eight at 18-10 with 12:48 to play following a layup from Pane before Nevada went on a 9-2 run to get within one at 20-19. USU increased its lead back to five at 26-21 with another Pane layup only to see UN go on a 7-2 run to tie the score at 28. The Wolf Pack then finished the half with a three-pointer from Malik Story for its first lead of the game as it went into the locker room up, 34-31.
Nevada began the second-half on an 11-4 run to take its largest lead of the game at 45-35 with 16:42 remaining before the Aggies began its comeback.
Pane had 10 points to lead Utah State in the first half as the Aggies shot 54.2 percent from the field (13-24), but was just 2-of-7 from three-point range (.286) and just 3-of-8 from the free throw line (3-8).
Czyz led Nevada with 16 points in the first half as the Wolf Pack shot 41.9 percent overall (13-31), 33.3 percent from behind the arc (4-12) and 66.7 percent at the charity stripe (4-6). UN also dominated the glass in the first 20 minutes with a 19-15 rebounding advantage as it had eight offensive boards as compared to just three for USU.
Utah State remains on the road next week with two more WAC contests starting with a game at Boise State on Thursday, Jan. 13 at 8:15 p.m. (MT).
Boise State 79, Hawai‘i 55
HONOLULU, Hawai’i –(BSU Media Relations) A strong defensive effort helped the Boise State men’s basketball team overcome a halftime deficit, and the Broncos cruised to a 79-55 win over Hawaii at Stan Sheriff Center.
Senior guard La’Shard Anderson scored 20 points and freshman forward Thomas Bropleh added a career-high 14 as the Broncos improved to 4-0 in the Western Athletic Conference for the first time since joining the league prior to the 2001-02 season.
The last time Boise State (11-5) started conference play with four-straight wins was in 1998-99, when the team was in the Big West. Hawaii dropped to 9-7 overall and 0-4 in the WAC.
After the Broncos jumped out to a 9-2 lead, the Rainbow Warriors went on a 17-3 run, pulling ahead by seven at 19-12. Anderson nailed back-to-back 3-pointers and later tied the game at 21 with a free throw, but Hawai’i didn’t trail for the remainder of the half, entering intermission with a 31-29 advantage.
Boise State came out firing in the second half, knocking down two 3-pointers in the opening minute to take the lead. But the work at the other end of the floor is what made the difference. The Broncos held the Warriors without a field goal for nearly nine minutes, as Hawai’i started the second stanza 0-for-10 from the floor.
Boise State built as much as a 24-point lead in the second half, and held on for the win.
The victory was just the third on the islands in 10 trips for the Broncos, and Boise State notched its first conference road sweep since knocking off San Jose State (74-68; Feb. 28) and Hawai’i (78-71; March 1) during the final road trip of the 2007-08 season.
Anderson’s performance followed his career-high 31-point effort in the Broncos’ 102-101 quadruple overtime victory over San Jose State Thursday. He went 7-of-12 from the floor against the Warriors, including a career-high five 3-pointers.
Bropleh also added a career-high eight rebounds to lead the Broncos, and Daequon Montreal added 10 points and seven rebounds.
With the victory the Broncos are now set for a first-place showdown with Utah State Thursday (Jan. 13) at Taco Bell Arena. The only two remaining undefeated teams in the league are set to square off at 8:15 p.m., and the game will follow the Bronco women’s game against San Jose State.