The Nevada Sagebrush

San Jose State guard Adrian Oliver, left, dribbles against New Mexico State guard Jonathan Gibson. Photo by Juan López/The Nevada Sagebrush

RENO, Nev –

10:26 p.m.: FINAL UPDATE OF THE DAY: A recap of the men’s first round: all of the higher seeds won and they won by an average of about 22 points. There weren’t any surprises in the day, but for tomorrow, Louisiana Tech guard Kyle Gibson will not play due to an ankle injury he’s been nursing for about four games now.
As for the matchups, here they are, both men’s and women’s: Game one starts at noon and pits the No.1 Fresno State women vs. No. 4 Idaho. Fresno won both regular-season matchups.
Game two starts at 2:30 p.m. and matches up the No. 2 Louisiana Tech women vs. No. 3 Nevada. The teams split a pair of meetings in the regular season, with both teams winning at home.
Game three starts at 6 p.m. and matches up the No. 1 Utah State men vs. No. 4 Louisiana Tech. The teams split in the regular season with both teams winning at home.
The final game of the day is between the No. 2 Nevada men and No. 3 New Mexico State. Nevada swept the regular-season series. The game will tip at 9 p.m. and be televised on ESPN2.
Alright, well I never thought I’d be tired of basketball, but I am right now. See you guys tomorrow and good night.

10: 24 p.m.: FINAL SCORE: New Mexico State 90, San Jose State 69.

10:14 p.m.: NMSU leads 81-64 with just 3:39 left. That means, barring a miraculous comeback by SJSU, the Aggies will play No. 2 seed Nevada tomorrow at 9 p.m. for a trip to the WAC Championship game. The other men’s semifinal will pit No. 1 Utah State against No. 4 Louisiana Tech, who both won earlier today. Stay tuned after the game for a quick recap of the day and a look at tomorrow’s matchups.

10:08 p.m.: With 5:29 left, NMSU owns a 74-62 lead over San Jose State. Spartans guard Adrian Oliver leads all scorers with 23 points while Jonathan Gibson has 18 for the Aggies.

9:54 p.m.: On another quick sidenote: NMSU forward Wendell McKines has drawn criticism in the past for the way he conducts himself, but I just saw all I need to see from him to judge his character. A couple minutes ago, there was a loose ball rebound, which he saved from going out of bounds. In the process, he flew into the cheerleaders and ball boys sitting right under the hoop. What does he do to get back in the play as fast as possible? McKines uses the ballboy as a crutch, throws the young boy to the floor and pushes himself off of him. ‘Nuff said. BTW, NMSU leads 67-50 with 9:45 left in the game.

9:53 p.m.: Back to the NMSU-SJSU game: New Mexico State holds a 62-48 lead and looks to be on its way to a second-round matchup against Nevada tomorrow.

9:30 p.m.: Quick sidenote: Fresno State forward Paul George just said on his Twitter account “League time!” I’m no genius or anything, but I’m pretty sure this means he’s going to enter the NBA Draft. Just a reminder, Fresno State just lost its game in the WAC Tournament to Louisiana Tech about five hours ago. This guy had his decision made up a while ago. George just finished up his sophomore year with the ‘Dogs, but appears to be out. Big loss for Fresno State.

9:21 p.m.: Halftime is upon us and New Mexico State owns a 39-31 lead over San Jose State. Adrian Oliver (SJSU) leads all scorers with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting while Jonathan Gibson has 11 points to lead NMSU. The Aggies have already made six three-point buckets and are winning the rebounding battle 20-15 en route to their eight-point lead.

9:13 p.m.: Alright folks, Nevada vs. Idaho game story is now up. Our last game of the night, between No. 3 New Mexico State and No. 6 San Jose State has been pretty good so far. With 1:10 left in the first half, NMSU leads 36-29 thanks to 11 points from guard Jonathan Gibson. Adrian Oliver, the leading scorer in the WAC, has 13 points to lead the Spartans.

Nevada guard Brandon Fields scored 15 points in the Wolf Pack's 87-71 win over Idaho Thursday. Photo by Brian Bolton/The Nevada Sagebrush

8:14 p.m.: FINAL SCORE: Nevada 87, Idaho 71. Luke Babbitt led Nevada with 21 points as the Wolf Pack advanced to the second round of the tourney. Full game story coming soon.

7:49 p.m.: All five Nevada starters are out and some guys we rarely see are in. The Pack’s lineup consists of name’s like Adam Carp, Patrick Nyeko and Keith Feutsch. Nevada leads 86-69 with 1:15 left in the game.

7:40 p.m.: With 4:00 left in the game, Nevada leads 81-62. Some trash talk has started on the court between the Wolf Pack’s Luke Babbitt and the Vandals’ Marvin Jefferson.

7:32 p.m.: Nevada’s lead is 75-55 and most of the Pack starters are still in the game. In my opinion, Pack head coach David Carter should take out all his starters and rest them for tomorrow night’s game. Playing on back-to-back nights is difficult and these guys need as much rest as they can get.

7:26 p.m.: 10:00 left in the half, Nevada now owns a big 70-49 lead over Idaho. All that’s left is for the final horn to blow and the Pack should be on its way to a semifinal matchup tomorrow. Four Nevada playes have scored double figures.

7:17 p.m.: Nevada has kept up its hot shooting so far in the half and has opened up a 61-44 lead over Idaho. Three Pack players have scored double figures while de Souza is keeping the Vandals within shouting distance with 17 points. 13:30 left in the game.

6:48 p.m.: The Wolf Pack kept up its hot offensive shooting throughout the half and leads Idaho 47-34 at halftime. Luke Babbitt has 11 points to lead Nevada while Luciano de Souza has 13 points to Pace the Vandals. Nevada looks well on its way to securing a berth in the WAC Tournament semifinals and a date with the winner of the final game of the night between No. 3 New Mexico State and No. 6 San Jose State.

6:27 p.m.: This game is quickly slipping away from Idaho. Nevada has jumped out to a big 35-21 lead and there is still 8:09 left in the first half. The Pack has put on a three-point barrage, hitting seven three-point buckets already. Three Nevada players have hit back-to-back threes already (guards Brandon Fields and Ray Kraemer and forward Joey Shaw). Nevada is absolutely on fire from the floor right now.

6:15 p.m.: First timeout of the game and Nevada’s jumped out to a 13-5 lead with 15:24 left in the half. The Wolf Pack led 13-2 after about 16:30 and was 5-for-5 from the field. Luke Babbitt has five points for the Pack so far.

6:05 p.m.: Game just tipped off between Nevada and Idaho. Even though Nevada is hosting the tournament, I’d venture to say the arena is about 65 percent full. Not a very good turnout from the community, in my opinion.

5:52 p.m.: Alright folks, national anthem is out of the way and we’re T-minus eight minutes from tipoff. Again, Nevada swept Idaho in the regular season and the Vandals will be without their second-leading scorer Kashif Watson.

5:40 p.m.: We’re about 20 minutes til the tip of the third game of the day between No. 2 Nevada and No. 7 Idaho. Both teams are warming up on the court right now. Nevada won both meetings in the regular season.

4:40 p.m.: FINAL SCORE: Louisiana Tech 74, Fresno State 66. La. Tech guard Jamel Guyton scored a career-high 31 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead his Bulldogs while Fresno State forward Paul George poured in 22 points and pulled down 11 rebounds himself. Louisiana Tech moves on to play No. 1 seed Utah State tomorrow, while Louisiana Tech moves on to prepare for next season.

La. Tech guard Jamel Guyton scored a career-high 31 points against Fresno State. Photo by Emerson Marcus/The Nevada Sagebrush

4:31 p.m.: Louisiana Tech seems on its way to a semifinal matchup with No. 1 Utah State Friday. La. Tech leads 72-66 with just 26.7 seconds left. La. Tech guard Jamel Guyton has a career-high 29 points so far.

4:21 p.m.: La. Tech’s lead has been cut to 66-62 thanks to a three-point bucket by Fresno State forward Paul George. George leads his Bulldogs with 22 while Guyton still has 27 for La. Tech.

4:15 p.m.: With exactly 3:00 left, we still have a close game here between the Bulldogs’ of the WAC. Louisiana Tech leads 64-58 thanks to a spectacular performance by guard Jamel Guyton who has 27 points so far. Should be an amazing finish, so stay tuned.

4:07 p.m.: La. Tech is clinging onto a 60-54 lead with 5:46 left in the game. Jamel Guyton is on fire for La. Tech. He has 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the floor. Paul George leads the other Bulldogs (Fresno State) with 17 points. This has been a stellar 4vs.5 matchup so far.

3:20 p.m.: After jumping to an early 17-4 lead on Fresno State, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs have slowly let their opponent get back in the game. The halftime score of the WAC Tournament’s 4-versus-5 game first round game is 33-32 Louisiana Tech. Jamel Guyton is 5-of-7 from the floor with 13 points for Louisiana Tech. His teammates are a combined 5-of-19. Paul George is shooting 5-of-12 from the floor with 12 points for Fresno State.

2:07 p.m.: A few further stats from the Utah State-Boise State game: For Utah State: F Tai Wesley had 18 points and 10 rebounds, G Jared Quayle had13 points and 13 rebounds, guard Brian Green and Pooh Williams also scored 18 points each. For Boise State: F Daequon Montreal had 16 points, F Robert Arnold had 14 points and eight rebounds, F Ike Okoye had 12 points. Key to the second half in which Utah State outscored Boise State 49-30: Utah State made 18-of-31 shots from the field. Again, tipoff for the Fresno State-Louisiana Tech game is about 20 minutes away.

1:56 p.m.: FINAL SCORE: Utah State 84, Boise State 60. The Aggies pulled away at the end and will advance to play the winner of the game between No. 4 Louisiana Tech and No. 5 Fresno State. That La. Tech-Fresno State game is the next one on the schedule with tipoff slated for 2:30 p.m.

Utah State forward Tai Wesley, middle, scored 18 points and led the Aggies to a 84-60 win over Boise State. Photo by Juan López/The Nevada Sagebrush

1:39 p.m.: With 6:34 left in the game, the Aggies have opened up a 66-53 lead. Utah State guard Pooh Williams has turned it on in the second half, with nine of his 14 points in this period. Boise State Ike Okoye has played better in this half as well, scoring six of his 12 points.

1:23 p.m.: Utah State has opened its lead up to 54-44 with 11:45 left in the second half. The crowd here is mostly pro-Utah State and it’s evident on the court. The Aggies are breaking through the pressure defense of the Broncos and are using Tai Wesley effectively in the low post. Wesley has 12 points while Utah State guard Jared Quayle has 13 points to lead all scorers. Boise forward Daequon Montreal has 12 points to pace his team.

1:02 p.m.: Just about ready to tip off the second half here at Lawlor Events Center. Boise State shot only 13-of-35 (37.1 percent) in the first half compared to 14-of-30 for Utah State (46.7 percent). Both teams pulled down seven offensive boards.

12:47 p.m.: Thanks to a three-point bucket by forward Paul Noonan at the buzzer, Boise State pulled within 35-30 of Utah State. As much as everyone loves to hate them, I gotta admit, Utah State has a great student fan base. They’re creative, in sync and entertaining. Anywho, the score here is Utah State 35, Boise State 30 at halftime.

12:37 p.m.: There’s some serious jawing going on in this game between Boise State forward Robert Arnold and Utah State forward Tai Wesley. One one possession of the game, Arnold blocked Wesley’s shot twice and then came down on the other end of the floor and knocked down an 18-foot jumper. The series gave Arnold some confidence and the smack talk ensued. Stay tuned. Utah State leads 31-25 with 2:08 left in the half.

12:31 p.m.: First game of day two of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament is underway and No. 1-seeded Utah State leads No. 8 Boise State 28-16 with 5:59 left in the first half. Utah State forward Tai Wesley has six points in the early going.

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