Boise State 70, Fresno State 56
FRESNO, Calif.
–(BSU Media Relatiosn) La’Shard Anderson scored a career-high 33 points, leading the Boise State men’s basketball team to a 70-56 win over Fresno State Thursday at the Save Mart Center.
Anderson, who scored his 33 points on just 14 attempts, knocked down 11 field goals – including four 3-pointers – and went 7-of-8 from the free throw line.
The Broncos (16-11, 8-6 WAC) captured their first road win over the Bulldogs since a 90-89 overtime victory Jan. 28, 2008, and won for just the second time in the last seven trips to Fresno, Calif.
Boise State started just 4-of-17 from the floor, but the Bulldogs were only able to capitalize to the tune of a seven-point advantage. Anderson kept Fresno State from running away in the opening half, scoring 17 of the team’s first 22 points.
The Broncos made nine of their final 11 shots of the half, and finally grabbed their first lead with 1:12 remaining in the half (31-29).
They didn’t let go.
Anderson continued to inflict damage in the opening minutes of the second half, scoring five of the team’s first nine points.
The Broncos held Fresno State to just four points in the first 10 minutes of the second stanza, and Boise State built as much as an 18-point lead while cruising to victory.
With his three steals against the Bulldogs, Anderson moved into second place on the Broncos’ career steals list (186), passing Doug Usitalo (185; 1986-88). Anderson is playing in just his third season with Boise State, and only Chris Childs (215; 1985-89) recorded more steals during his Bronco career.
The Broncos continue their road trip at Nevada Saturday. The game will be televised live by the WAC Sports Network, and tip-off is scheduled for 8:35 p.m. (MT).
Idaho 67, Nevada 59
RENO, Nev.
-(UI Media Relations) Jeff Ledbetter scored a team season-high 25 points, Idaho connected on 10 three-pointers and the Vandal men's basketball team netted an important road victory over Western Athletic Conference opponent Nevada on Thursday, 67-59.
Idaho (16-11, 8-6 WAC) shot a team and WAC season-high 66.7 percent from 3-point range and held Nevada (11-16, 7-6 WAC) to 36.7 overall shooting in the win that puts Idaho into a third-place tie in the conference standings with just two WAC games left to play.
The name of the game was shooting - both from long-range and from the foul line. Idaho hit 10 of its 15 attempts from beyond the arc, led by Ledbetter's five-of-six performance, and then hit 17 of its 20 free throw attempts to hold off a late Wolf Pack charge.
"There was a lot riding on this game," Idaho head coach Don Verlin said. "We've got a few guys nicked up right now and we had a few guys playing hurt tonight, but I thought our guys did a great job of playing as a team and did everything they could to get a win."
Idaho shot 45.5 percent overall from the field, including a crisp 57.9 percentage in the decisive second half. Nevada went 11-of-30 (.367) in each half and hit just 50 percent of its free throw attempts (7-14).
"Our coaches did a great job with this game plan, I thought our guys executed the game plan and I think we played this game at our pace all night long," Verlin said.
The win gives Idaho its first sweep of the Wolf Pack since 1999 and just its fourth season sweep of Nevada in series history.
"I thought our guys played extremely hard tonight," Verlin said. "I thought they were extremely tough. We did just about everything we needed to do, except we didn't rebound our ball well enough."
Ledbetter's 25 points are the most by a Vandal since Steffan Johnson's 28 against Hawai'i in the 2010 Senior Day game at the Cowan Spectrum. Fellow senior Shawn Henderson and junior Deremy Geiger added 10 points apiece for Idaho. Both Henderson and Geiger nailed a pair of 3-pointers in the game, and Geiger got all of his points in the second half.
Deonte Burton led Nevada with 19 points and four assists, while Dario Hunt pulled down a game-high 19 rebounds, with six points and two blocks, but only three Nevada players tallied more than six points and seven Wolf Pack players finished with two or fewer points.
The teams battled to a 29-29 tie at the break after a back-and-forth first half. Ledbetter scored 12 of Idaho's first 14 points in the game as the Vandals jumped out to a 14-7 lead at the 13:18 mark of the first period.
Freshman Stephen Madison's second-chance 3-pointer at the 11:16 mark of the first gave Idaho its largest lead of the half at 17-9, but Nevada outscored the Vandals 9-2 over the next five minutes to cut within one at 19-18.
The see-saw went the other way immediately, as the Vandals scored five in row over the next 30 seconds to jump back up 24-18 at 6:04. Nevada outscored Idaho, 11-5, over the remainder of the half to earn the tie at the break.
Things don't get any easier for the Vandals, as they'll travel to Logan, Utah, to take on Utah State (RV/No. 23) on Saturday. The Aggies have clinched the outright WAC regular-season title, and their lone conference blemish came at the hands of Idaho on Feb. 9, 64-56, at the Cowan Spectrum.
Hawai‘i 71, Louisiana Tech 58
HONOLULU
–(UH Media Relations) The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team got off to a furious start and never looked back in a 71-58 win over Louisiana Tech Thursday night at the Stan Sheriff Center. With the win, UH clinched a berth into next month's Western Athletic Conference Tournament.
The Rainbow Warriors (16-10, 6-7 WAC) led from wire-to-wire, starting the game on a 13-2 run. UH shot a scorching 65 percent in the first half, took a 41-22 into the locker room and coasted after break, building its lead to as many as 25 points.
Bill Amis led four 'Bows in double figures with 18 points. One game after pouring in a career-high 32 points, Zane Johnson filled the scoring column again with 16 points. Jeremiah Ostrowski recorded 12 points and seven assists in his second straight start, while Vander Joaquim fell one rebound short of a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds.
UH, winners of seven of its last nine games, finished the game shooting 50 percent. UH also put together a strong defensive effort, holding the Bulldogs to just percent 37 percent shooting, in earning its most comfortable conference win of the year.
The 'Bows effectively put the game away in the first half, getting all 41 of its first-half points from its five starters, including 23 from Johnson and Ostrowski.
After a one-year absence, the Rainbow Warrior are back in the WAC Tournament which begins March 9 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. UH currently sits in sixth place in the WAC, 1.5 games behind fourth place Boise State and Idaho.
UH will play its final regular season home game of the year when it takes on New Mexico State on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 7:00 p.m. Seniors Bill Amis, Douglas Kurtz and Hiram Thompson will be honored at the conclusion of the game as part Senior Night festivities.