Mr. Toad's Wild Ride - WAC style

It was yet another wild night in the WAC Thursday evening -- here you go.

This wasn't unexpected but was closer than many thought:

BSU men all alone in first place in WAC standings
The Broncos win at SJSU for the sixth straight time and turn their attention to Hawaii.
NICK JEZIERNY
2/29/08

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Redshirt freshman Paul Noonan gave the Boise State men's basketball team the lift it needed, then senior Tyler Tiedeman strapped the Broncos on his back down the stretch to help them earn an important win Thursday night.

BSU scored a 74-68 victory over San Jose State in front of 2,247 at The Event Center. The win, coupled with New Mexico State's loss at Nevada, puts the Broncos (21-7 overall, 11-3 WAC) in sole possession of first place.

"It's definitely a big win," said Noonan, who scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half and helped BSU erase a seven-point deficit.

The victory could be a costly one, though. Senior Matt Nelson, who scored 12 points, seven rebounds and a team-high four assists, left with 1 minute, 35 seconds to play with an ankle injury. His status for Saturday night's game at Hawaii is uncertain.

"I don't think he's going to be able to play," said teammate Matt Bauscher, who returned from his own ankle injury and started Thursday. "He basically did what I did."

Tiedeman, who was plagued by foul trouble in the first half, led five Broncos in double figures with 16 points. He scored eight in a row after the Spartans (12-15, 4-9) had taken a 59-53 lead with 7:57 to play to give the Broncos the lead for good...

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This could have consequences and makes Saturday's SJSU home game versus Idaho critical. SJSU remains a win ahead of Idaho and wants to avoid the task of being a participant in the play-in game to the WAC tourney:

Jason Kaneshiro
Honolulu Star Bulletin
February 29, 2008

Hawaii hadn't lost at home in more than a month. Idaho hadn't won on the road all season.

Both streaks came to a stunning end last night as the Vandals raided the Stan Sheriff Center for an 85-77 overtime win over the Rainbow Warriors before a crowd of 3,411.

A 3-pointer by Idaho's Michael Crowell with 22.1 seconds left in regulation knotted the game at 68-68, and the Vandals (7-19, 4-10 Western Athletic Conference) went 5-for-6 from the field and 6-for-7 from the free-throw line in the extra period to send the Rainbows (11-15, 7-6) to their third straight loss.

"It's disappointing to lose on your home court, or lose anywhere," UH coach Bob Nash said. "But it's doubly disappointing when you have the lead and all you have to do is come down and make a stop on defense.

"When the game is in the balance you gotta make a stop on defense and we didn't get it done tonight..."

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Nevada seems to have NMSU's number:

Pack hoops: Nevada has 'Fields' day
Steve Sneddon
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
February 29, 2008

It's hard for anyone to get any elbow room in a crowded Western Athletic Conference regular-season title race.

But the Nevada men's basketball team found enough room to squeeze into second place in the race as Brandon Fields scored a career-high 29 points and Marcelus Kemp had 27 points and eight assists to lead the Wolf Pack to a wire-to-wire 98-85 victory in front of 8,750 at Lawlor Events Center on Thursday night. The Wolf Pack, 18-10 overall and 10-4 in the conference, stayed a game behind first-place Boise State, which took a 74-68 win at San Jose State on Thursday.

"It was a big win for our team. It puts us in a better position to win the whole thing," Kemp said.

Fields also grabbed nine rebounds to lead Nevada to a 40-35 advantage on the boards against the WAC's best rebounding team. Fields came back after being held scoreless in the Pack's 74-49 loss in a BracketBuster game at Southern Illinois last Saturday.

"I was more aggressive on the rebounding end and once I became a good rebounder points came to me," Fields said...

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USU won as expected:

Ags too much for Tech
Shawn Harrison
Logan Herald Journal
February 29, 2008

A strong start and finish were more than enough for the Aggies on Thursday night.

An outmanned Louisiana Tech squad made it interesting for a while, but the Utah State men’s basketball team had no problem staying perfect at home this year. The Aggies snapped a three-game losing skid in Western Athletic Conference play with an 86-59 thumping of the Bulldogs in front of another sold-out (10,270) Dee Glen Smith Spectrum crowd.

This is the ninth straight season USU has recorded 20 wins.

“I’m really excited about that,” said Aggie guard Jaycee Carroll, who scored a game-best 30 points. “I’ve been staring at 18 and 19 on our win column for a long time. We had that losing streak, got off that and now have 20 wins. It feels really good. Now we have an opportunity to get a bunch more wins.”

Louisiana Tech (4-22, 1-12 WAC) did tie up the game at 23 with 6:47 left in the first half. But the Bulldogs would never lead in the contest.

“These games are always hard because you’re in a situation where you feel like you have to win, and you’re supposed to win,” USU head coach Stew Morrill said. “It’s a good win. We shot a high percentage, and we did what we needed to do.”

USU (20-9, 9-4) certainly did shoot the ball well. The Aggies shot a season-high 67.3 percent from the field, including making 35-of-45 from inside the 3-point arc. The 67.3 percent shooting tied for the seventh-best in school history...

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