#23 Utah State 84, Idaho 68
LOGAN, Utah
-(USU Media Relations) Utah State men's basketball had a lot to celebrate Saturday night at a packed Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, honoring its six seniors in a pre-game ceremony, then the 23rd-ranked Aggies went out and routed Idaho, 84-68. After the game, USU cut down the nets for its fourth-straight WAC regular-season championship.
The Aggies improved to 12-1 on Senior Night under head coach Stew Morrill and 43-11 all-time on the night honoring their seniors dating back to the 1957-58 season. USU won its 31st-consecutive home game in improving to 26-3 overall and 13-1 in WAC play. Saturday's win gave Utah State its third undefeated home season in the last four years, finishing 17-0 at home this season, matching the 2008 and 2009 seasons for most wins at home in a single-season in school history.
Idaho had its two-game win streak snapped and is now 16-12 overall and 8-7 in WAC action. The win gives the Aggies a 33-13 all-time advantage over the Vandals, avenging their lone WAC loss of the season, falling at Idaho on Feb. 9, a loss that snapped Utah State's 11-game win streak in the series. USU improved to 15-1 vs. UI in games played in Logan.
The six Aggie seniors, who are the winningest senior class in school history with a four-year record of 106-27, combined to score 58 points Saturday, led by forward Tai Wesley's game-high 22 points, his seventh 20-point outing of the season. Guard Brian Green netted 15 points off the bench while backcourt mates Pooh Williams and Tyler Newbold tallied eight and six points, respectively, sandwiching forward Nate Bendall's seven points, and fellow forward Matt Formisano tossed in three points. Wesley and Newbold both started their 134th career game, tying former Aggie great Jaycee Carroll for the USU record, and the pair can break the mark in the Aggies' next game, Wednesday, March 2 at New Mexico State.
Junior guard Brockeith Pane netted 18 points, as he and Wesley each matched Idaho's free throw scoring by making 10 each, as Pane was 10-of-11 and Wesley was 10-of-12, while Idaho was 10-of-15 (66.7 percent) on the night. Bendall snared a game-best eight rebounds, while Wesley and junior forward Brady Jardine added seven boards apiece, helping USU to a 37-31 rebounding edge.
Idaho was led by Shawn Henderson's 17 points while Jeff Ledbetter added 16 points and Stephen Madison added 10 points off the bench. Landon Tatum registered six rebounds to lead the Vandals.
USU made half of its shots (26-of-52) on the night, shooting 63.2 percent (12-of-19) in the second half, after a 14-of-33 (42.4 percent) first half. Green hit three three-pointers while Williams hit two and freshman forward Brad Brown hit one, for his first field goal of the season, as the Aggies were 6-of-15 (40.0 percent) behind the arc. Pane and Wesley's free throw shooting paced Utah State to a 26-of-30 (86.7 percent) effort, its second-best percentage of the season and seventh game of making at least 80 percent at the free pitch stripe.
Idaho shot 25-of-61 (41.0 percent) from the field, making 8-of-20 (40.0 percent) from three-point range. The Vandals were 10-of-15 (66.7 percent) at the charity stripe, marking the fourth-straight game and the 14th time this season that the Aggies have made more free throws than their opponent had attempted.
The battle was low scoring in the early going, locked at 3-3 for almost the first five minutes of the contest. USU pulled away from a 5-5 tie with a 12-2 run, capped with a pair of Pane free throws and a jumper from just inside the arc, for a 17-7 lead at the 11:50 mark. Idaho then went on an 11-4 run to cut the gap to 21-18 with 6:04 to go, but that would be the closest the Vandals would get. The Aggies closed out the half with an 8-0 spurt, topped by a Wesley runner in the waning seconds for a 39-23 intermission advantage, as USU improved to 22-0 on the season when leading at halftime.
A three-pointer by Green from the left wing put the Aggies ahead, 56-35, with 12:26 on the clock, before the Vandals reeled off nine unanswered to close to 56-44 at the 10:50 mark. USU then scored 14 of the game's next 20 points to regain its 20-point advantage at 70-50, coming on a Wesley layup at the 6:18 mark. Wesley later hit a pair of free throws with 2:52 to go to give the Aggies their largest lead of the night at 81-58, coasting to the win.
With only eight turnovers Saturday, Utah State registered its sixth game of the season with single-digit turnovers. The Aggie defense swatted six shots in the game, led by Wesley's two rejections, to also record their sixth game with five or more blocks.
Utah State closes out regular-season action with two games on the road, opening Wednesday, March 2 at 9 p.m. (MT) against New Mexico State at Las Cruces, N.M. in a nationally-televised game on ESPN2. USU then heads to Ruston, La. on Saturday, March 5, to face Louisiana Tech in a 5 p.m. (MT) tip-off. The regular-season finale will be televised on ESPN Regional and seen on Altitude.
USU is the top seed for the WAC Tournament, which runs March 9-12 at The Orleans in Las Vegas, Nev.
San Jose State 72, Louisiana Tech 60
San Jose, Calif.-(SJSU Media Relations) Adrian Oliver scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in an 8:04 span of the first-half leading San Jose State University to a 72-60 win over Louisiana Tech University in a Western Athletic Conference men's basketball game.
After missing his first shot of the game, Oliver made his next six shots, four field goals and a pair of threes, plus two free throws as the Spartans opened up a 23-13 lead. San Jose State (15-12, 5-9 WAC) led by as many as 12 points in the first half before going into the locker room with a 38-29 halftime lead.
Louisiana Tech (12-18, 2-12 WAC) never got closer than eight points in the second half.
"It was a solid performance by our team. They had a lot of energy. I thought (Louisiana Tech forward Ola) Ashalou played an inspired game and had a lot of fire in him. We sustained an effort the whole night," said San Jose State coach George Nessman about the Spartans winning four in a row for the first time since the 2003 season. "We really didn't have a period where we let down. We were able to hold them off and get a nice win."
The Spartans' win put San Jose State at the 15-win mark for the first time since 2001 and clinched a spot in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament in Las Vegas. The Bulldogs' loss meant their season will end with its March 5 home game against Utah State.
"It was a gritty win for us. La Tech came in here really fighting. They needed to win to play in the WAC Tournament. We knew that. We played tough tonight and never really let them get close," said San Jose State guard Justin Graham who scored 17 points. "We just played really solid tonight. It was nice."
Ashaolu led Louisiana Tech with 18 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. In his first 2010-11 start, guard C.J. Scott scored 14 points, 11 more than his season total of three points coming into the game.
San Jose State forward Wil Carter was the only other player in the game to score in double figures with 10 points.
The Spartans, the best shooting free throw team in the conference, helped themselves making 24-of-28 from the free throw line. Louisiana Tech made just 7-of-19 free throw tries.
San Jose State concludes its six-game homestand Thursday, March 3 with Hawaii.
Boise State 72, Nevada 66
RENO, Nev.
-(AP) La'Shard Anderson scored 23 points to lead Boise State over Nevada 72-66 on Saturday night.
Daequon Montreal had 16 points, all in the second half, and Robert Arnold 12 for the Broncos (17-11, 9-6 WAC).
Olek Czyz had 25 points and 11 rebounds for the Wolf Pack (11-17, 7-7). Deonte Burton had 14 points and Malik Story 10.
Anderson keyed a Boise State run early in the second half that stretched a six-point lead to a 49-37 cushion with 10:21 remaining. He had six points during the surge.
A 3-pointer by Anderson from the top of the key with 1:41 left stopped a Nevada run that cut the Broncos' lead to seven.
The Wolf Pack made just 14 of 27 free-throw attempts. Boise State was 17 of 29 from the line and sealed the win with a pair of free throws by Jeff Elorriaga with 12.5 seconds left.
Hawai‘i 76, New Mexico State 70
HONOLULU -(AP) Zane Johnson scored a game-high 22 points, and Vander Joaquim and Bill Amis each had double-doubles to carry Hawaii to a 76-70 win over New Mexico State Saturday night.
The Rainbow Warriors (17-10, 7-7 Western Athletic) won their fourth consecutive game and split the season series with the Aggies (14-15, 8-6), who dropped their third straight.
Johnson was 8 of 14 from the field, including six 3-pointers. Joaquim was 7 of 10 from the field and had 18 points and 15 rebounds, while Amis added 14 points and 11 boards.
Amis' layup off Joaquim's assist capped a 16-4 run gave the Rainbow Warriors their largest lead at 58-45 with just under 12 minutes left.
Hawaii led by 11 with 5:43 left in the first half, but the Aggies used a 13-4 run to cut the deficit to 35-33 at intermission.
Christian Kabongo led New Mexico State with 22 points.