Utah State 71, UTSA 67
SAN ANTONIO - (USU Media Relations) Junior guard and Texas native Preston Medlin netted a season-high 24 points while fellow junior, guard/forward Spencer Butterfield tied his season-high with 14 points to lead Utah State men's basketball to a 71-67 win over UTSA Saturday night at UTSA's Convocation Center in the Western Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
USU improved to 10-1 for the first time since 2008-09 and the seventh time in school history, as well as moving to 1-0 in WAC play for the fifth time in its eight years in the league. Overall, the Aggies improved to 5-3 in WAC openers, winning their last three in a row and five of the last six after dropping its first two WAC openers.
UTSA suffered its sixth loss in its last seven games, falling to 4-7 overall and lost its inaugural WAC game, as the Roadrunners are in their one and only season in the WAC. Saturday was also the first-ever meeting between USU and UTSA.
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San Jose State 72, Texas State 55
San Marcos, Texas-(SJSU Media Relations) San Jose State shot 51.8 percent from the field as three players scored in double figures to lead the Spartans to a 72-55 win at Texas State in the team's Western Athletic Conference season opener.
Louis Garrett led the Spartans with a season-best 16 points as he was 6-for-9 from the field. James Kinney returned to the starting lineup and scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds. Chris Cunningham recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 11 points and 14 rebounds.
The Spartan defense also was key in the win, holding Texas State to just 32.3 percent from the field. Bobcat leading scorer Matt Staff was held to just eight points, short of his 15.8 average.
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UT Arlington 68, New Mexico State 47
ARLINGTON, Texas – (UTA Media Relations) UT Arlington opened up its first and only Western Athletic Conference season with a convincing 68-47 win Saturday night over New Mexico State at College Park Center.
The Mavericks improved to 6-3 overall and 1-0 in conference, while the Aggies dropped to 6-7 and 0-1. New Mexico State leads the all-time series 10-2, but UT Arlington has won the last two meetings. The teams meet again on March 9, 2013 in Las Cruces, N.M.
“It was the best all-around performance for our guys this year,” UT Arlington coach Scott Cross said. “We did a great job defensively and I was glad we did a good job taking care of the basketball. We were kicking on all cylinders for the first time all year.”
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Louisiana Tech 68, Denver 60
RUSTON - (LT Media Relations) Six players scored at least eight points, led by guard Raheem Appleby with 12, as the all-around offensive effort by Louisiana Tech (10-3, 1-0) was enough to maintain the edge throughout most of the contest and take the WAC season opener over Denver (4-7, 0-1) by a final score of 68-60 Saturday night at the Thomas Assembly Center.
It had been three weeks since LA Tech played in the TAC, but they picked up exactly where they left off by staying a perfect 5-0 at home this season. Meanwhile, Denver remained winless on the road with the loss.
"It was a big win," said head coach Michael White. "[It was] a great way to start the conference season against a team that was picked very high in preseason standings and against a team that has been there and done that. They have played really well thus far this season and I think they are going to be in the thick of things at the end of the WAC season with a chance to, I think, be one of the best teams in this league. It was a big win for us."
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Idaho 71, Seattle U 64
SEATTLE –(UI Media Relations) Idaho trailed for most of the second half and leading scorer Stephen Madison was hindered with foul trouble all night, but the Vandals rallied back for a 71-64 victory at Seattle University in its Western Athletic Conference opener on Saturday.
Idaho (5-6, 1-0 WAC) ended the game on a 14-4 run that included three-consecutive 3-pointers by junior guard Robert Harris to send Seattle (5-6, 0-1 WAC) to a loss in its first WAC game since joining the league this season.
“I thought we did the things tonight – even though we weren’t perfect – we did the things we needed to do to win the game,” Idaho head coach Don Verlin said after the game.
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