Hawai‘i 73, Boise State 66
BOISE, Idaho –(UH Media Relations) A short-handed University of Hawai‘i men’s basketball team picked up huge road win, defeating Boise State, 73-66, Thursday night at the Taco Bell Arena. UH improved to 13-9 overall and 4-6 in the Western Athletic Conference.
The win was big in a number of ways. After UH started league play 0-5, the Rainbow Warriors have now won four of its last five WAC games to continue to inch closer up the WAC standings. It was also the ’Bows second straight WAC road win, a first since 2006.
In the last regular-season meeting between the teams as WAC rivals, UH avenged a 24-point loss last month in Honolulu and defeated the Broncos in Boise for the first time in five years.
The ’Bows did it with a depleted roster—UH was without the services of leading scorer Zane Johnson and key reserve Trevor Wiseman. Meanwhile, Hiram Thompson missed a majority of the first half after suffering a blow to the face less than a minute into the game.
It didn’t matter as Bill Amis led four players in double-digits with 22 points. The senior forward also added seven rebounds and four blocks. Jeremiah Ostrowski continued his stellar play notching 12 points and eight assists while filling in for Thompson. Vander Joaquim recorded his fifth double-double with 11 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks, while Joston Thomas scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half to help seal the win.
UH led nearly wire-to-wire. The Broncos held the lead just once—late in the first half—and that lead last all but 35 seconds. The 'Bows shot 58 percent for the game, including a sizzling 68 percent in the second half to expand a one-point halftime lead to as many as 15 points late in the game. Meanwhile, the Broncos (12-10, 5-5 WAC) struggled from distance, converting just 6-of-26 three-pointers.
After leading by as many as 10 points in the first half, the ’Bows took a slim 29-28 lead going into the locker room. UH burst out in the second half with a 12-5 run and hit five of its first seven three point attempts, including three by Bo Barnes. A three-point play by Amis gave UH a 64-49 lead with 5:31 remaining and the ’Bows never looked back.
UH next travels to Moscow to take on Idaho on Saturday, Feb. 5. Tipoff is 7:05 p.m. PT (5:05 HT) at the Cowan Spectrum.
Fresno State 88, New Mexico State 83 (OT)
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Kevin Olekaibe scored 24 points and Greg Smith added 17 as Fresno State defeated New Mexico State 88-83 in overtime on Thursday night to snap a six-game conference losing streak.
Garrett Johnson also scored 17 points for Fresno State (9-12, 4-6 WAC), including a key 3-pointer in the final minute of regulation.
Troy Gillenwater scored 33 points for New Mexico State (12-12, 6-4), and Tyrone Watson added 14 on 6-of-7 shooting from the field.
Fresno State scored the first four points of overtime on a layup by Ned Golubovic and two free throws by Olekaibe. The Aggies never got within two points the rest of the way.
Two more free throws by Olekaibe with 35 seconds left clinched the Bulldogs' first conference victory since they began WAC play 3-0.
San Jose State 92, Idaho 89 (2OT)
Moscow, Idaho--(SJSU Media Relations) Freshman Keith Shamburger scored 17 of his 20 points after halftime including 10 in the two overtime periods as San Jose State defeated Idaho, 92-89.
Shamburger connected on a three-pointer with 8.6 seconds left in the first overtime to tie the game at 81-81 and extend the contest. Then, he scored the Spartans’ first six points on a pair of three’s to open the final extra period.
“Keith and can play when the game is on the line,” San Jose State coach George Nessman said of the 5-foot-11 guard who was 4-of-8 from 3-point range for the game and 3-of-4 in the overtimes.
San Jose State (11-10, 3-7 WAC) overcame a 10-point deficit with 1:55 left in regulation and sent the game into overtime when Justin Graham’s three-point basket with 18.1 seconds tied the game at 66-66. Graham led all scorers with 28 points.
“We made big shots and showed a lot of grit in the last couple of minutes.
Idaho outplayed us from about the 9-minute mark to the 3-minute mark. Then, we got new life, kept our bounce and found a way. Keith and Justin made big shots, but they were both open, too,” Nessman said about his team that won its second straight to get back above .500 for the season.
“A lot of winning this time of the year is simply finding a way to win more than executing perfectly. We found a way to win the game and we needed a win.”
The Spartans’ starting five accounted for all of the team’s scoring as San Jose State won its second in a row and sixth on the road this season.
Adrian Oliver scored 23 and came up with 10 rebounds for his second double-double in as many games before fouling out with 1:42 in the second overtime. Forward Wil Carter had career highs of 17 points and 14 rebounds and center Matt Ballard rounded out the scoring with 4 points and 9 rebounds.
“We wanted to come up here and steal one away from them. They stole one from us at home. We wanted to counter that,”
said Graham who repeatedly forced his way to the basket with head-first drives and pull-up jumpers at the dotted line in the key.
Forward Luiz Toledo led Idaho (12-10, 5-5 WAC) with a career high 19 points. Jeff Ledbetter added 17 points on five 3-pointers. Reserve center Kyle Barone and Brandon Wiley each scored 15 as the Vandals found ways to score inside against the Spartans zone in the second half to build its short-lived advantage.
Idaho now has lost four in a row.
The Spartans sixth road win matches the most by the team since the 1994 season when San Jose State won seven times on opposing courts. Nessman's squad goes after a seventh road win Saturday at Nevada in a 7:30 p.m. (PST) contest.