New Mexico State 71, Missouri State 51
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (NMSU Media Relations)-The New Mexico State men's basketball team defeated Missouri State, 71-51, in its last tune-up before WAC play begins.
Freshman center Sim Bhullar scored a career-high 25 points to pace the Aggies (6-6). Sophomore guard Daniel Mullings recorded his eighth game in double-digits this season with 11 points. Senior forward Tyrone Watson contributed nine, and freshman forward Matej Buovac added eight points in his Aggie debut.
The Aggies utilized their size advantage and scored 30 points in the paint. NM State also shot 54.2 percent from the field (26-of-48). The Crimson and White defense was tough and only allowed the Bears (2-10) to shoot 33.3 percent from the field (19-of-57) including 14.3 percent from behind the arc (2-of-14).
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Seattle U 72, Campbell 49
Seattle, Wash. - (SU Media Relations) After a close first half, Seattle University's offense came alive after halftime, and its defense maintained the pressure on Campbell University as the Redhawks pulled away for a 72-49 victory Saturday night at KeyArena at Seattle Center.
Six Redhawk players scored at least nine points apiece in the game, led by D'Vonne Pickett Jr. (Seattle, Wash.) with 16 points, plus he notched his first career double-double with 10 rebounds while also dishing out five assists. Deshaun Sunderhaus (Conyers, Ga.) picked up his second double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 assists, while Clarence Trent (Tacoma, Wash.) also scored 12 points.
Down by two at the start of the second half, the Redhawks pulled back into the lead thanks to a layup by Trent and a three-pointer from Chad Rasmussen (University Place, Wash.). Campbell responded with a 7-1 scoring run, capped by a traditional three-point play from Darren White, to retake the lead at 41-39 with 15:41 left in the second half.
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Utah State 70, Southern Illinois 58
LOGAN, Utah - (USU Media Relations) Senior forward Kyisean Reed scored a season-high for the second time in three games with 21 points to earn Most Valuable Player honors of the 2012 Utah State hosted World Vision Challenge, sponsored by Gossner Foods as the Aggies defeated Southern Illinois, 70-58, Saturday night in the final game of the tournament at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
With the win, Utah State has now won eight-straight games and improves to 9-1 for its best start to a season since the 2008-09 team won 24 of its first 25 games. USU also improved to 46-1 all-time in tournaments it hosts and is now 217-19 at home under 15th-year head coach Stew Morrill, including a 7-1 record this year.
Southern Illinois finished the tournament in third-place with a 1-2 record and is now 7-4 on the season. UC Davis went 2-1 in the tournament to place second, while Nicholls State lost all three of its games.
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James Madison 77, San Jose State 68
Las Vegas, Nev.—(SJSU Media Relations) LaVanne Pennington led all Spartan scorers with a career-high 16 points, but James Madison was perfect from three-point range in the second half as San Jose State fell, 77-68, at the Vegas Holiday Hoops at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
LaVanne Pennington made his first start of the season and led the team in scoring with a career-high 16 points. He was 5-for-13 from the field including 3-of-7 from the three-point line. Pennington suffered a left calf cramp with 8:05 left in the game and was unable to return.
“LaVanne was given an opportunity to fill a role,” said Spartan head coach George Nessman. “He did a good job getting us off to a positive start in the game.”
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