Nevada 65, New Mexico State 61
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Olek Czyz scored 15 points and Malik Story 14 as Nevada held off New Mexico State 65-61 Thursday night to clinch the Western Athletic Conference regular-season championship.
Dario Hunt added 10 points for the Wolf Pack (24-5, 12-1), who will carry the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament in Las Vegas.
Wendell McKines led New Mexico State (22-9, 9-4) with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
The Wolf Pack led 63-54 with 3:02 remaining before the Aggies reeled off seven straight points to make it 63-61 with 57 seconds left.
The Aggies could not score in the final seconds, however, and Deonte Burton hit a pair of free throws with 1.1 seconds remaining to put the game away.
READ FULL ARTICLE
Idaho 82, Hawai‘i 63
HONOLULU, Hawai`i –(UI Media Relations) When it mattered the most, University of Idaho men’s basketball came up with its very best.
The Vandal men broke out to an early double-digit lead and never looked back in an 82-63 victory at Hawai`i on Thursday at Stan Sheriff Center to lock up at least a No. 3 seed in next week’s Western Athletic Conference Tournament.
“I talked to them all week about having a competitive spirit about us, and I think we really brought that to the island,” Idaho head coach Don Verlin said after the game.
Idaho (17-12, 8-5 WAC) shot 26-of-51 (.510) from the field, 10-of-21 (.476) from 3-point range and 20-of-25 (.800) in the game. Hawai`i (15-14, 6-7 WAC) shot just 22-of-63 (.349) from the floor and 7-of-17 (.412) from long range. The Warriors also shot just 57.1 percent (12-21) from the free throw line.
READ FULL ARTICLE
Utah State 71, San Jose State 61
SAN JOSE, Calif. - (USU Media Relations) Sophomore guard Preston Medlin had 26 points in leading Utah State to a 71-61 road win at San Jose State Thursday giving the Aggies consecutive wins for just the third time this season as USU improved to 16-14 overall and 7-6 in Western Athletic Conference play. SJSU falls to 9-20 and 1-12 in league play with the loss.
Utah State also increased its winning streak against San Jose State to 10 straight games, including four straight on the road, as the Aggies improved to 3-10 on the season away from home.
Medlin, who added five rebounds and two assists in the game, was 9-of-13 from the field, 5-of-8 from three-point range and 3-for-3 at the free throw line. Senior guard Brockeith Pane added 14 points and six assists and sophomore forward Mitch Bruneel scored 12 points off the bench as the Aggie reserves out-scored San Jose State's bench players 18-5. Overall, Bruneel was 4-of-5 from three-point range.
READ FULL ARTICLE
Louisiana Tech 75, Fresno State 70
FRESNO, Calif. – (LT Media Relations) Behind a game-high 16 points from senior Trevor Gaskins and junior Brandon Gibson’s double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds, Louisiana Tech defeated Fresno State 75-70 Thursday night at the Save Mart Center. The victory was the fourth for an opposing team in Fresno this season and the first Western Athletic Conference program to win that did not go into extra periods.
Tech improves to 16-14 overall and 6-7 in the Western Athletic Conference while Fresno dropped to 13-18 and 3-10 in conference play.
LA Tech scored 13 straight points with Gaskins scored eight straight points to cap off the run after starting the game behind 3-2.
Fresno pulled to within 15-8 at the 12:17 mark on a free throw by Jerry Brown. Tech then scored 10 of the next 13 points over the next 3:54 as sophomore Cordarius Johnson had five of the Bulldogs points.
READ FULL ARTICLE