In the WAC last night

Nevada came to Berkeley and fell to Cal but with some bright moments and efforts.

Cal's treys sink Nevada
Chris Murray
Reno Gazette-Journal
December 21, 2008

BERKELEY, Calif. -- In a 75-second span Saturday afternoon, the Nevada basketball team let 35 minutes of aggressive, hard-nosed play unravel into a 75-66 loss to the California Golden Bears.

It came in a couple blinks of an eye as Cal capped back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers with an alley-oop dunk that brought the crowd of 9,670 fans at Haas Pavilion to its feet and buried Nevada's shot at a win.

"We just fell apart," the Pack's Armon Johnson said after scoring a career-high 33 points in the loss. "We had some mental lapses and a good team made us pay..."

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Here's Chris Murray's notes on the game.

Boise goes on the road and nabs a win.

Bronco men's basketball team captures first road victory
Idaho Statesman
12/21/08

The Boise State men's basketball team scored its first road win of the season by edging Cal State Bakersfield 66-62 on Saturday night in Bakersfield, Calif.

Sophomore Paul Noonan, who sat out most of the first half in foul trouble, scored 16 of his team-high 19 points in the second half to help the Broncos (7-3) snap a two-game losing skid...

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San Jose State got Adrian Oliver in uniform for the first time and he didn't disappoint.

San Jose, CA -- Adrian Oliver showed one player can make a big difference. In his San Jose State men’s basketball debut, the 6-foot-4 sophomore poured in a career-high 27 points leading the Spartans to an 89-78 non-conference victory over Northern Colorado at the San Jose Civic Auditorium.

Oliver was 11-of-18 from the field including 2-of-3 from 3-point range and found time to hand out two assists and block a game-high three shots on the defensive end for the Spartans (4-3) who now have their first two-game winning streak of the season...

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New Mexico State split it home-and-home series with UTEP.

Aggies fall to UTEP
Jason Groves
Las Cruces Sun-News
12/21/2008

EL PASO — The teams faced off before the tip.

They faced off in the Don Haskins Center tunnel at halftime.

When the dust settled, Texas-El Paso emerged with a season split in the I-10 rivalry after Saturday's 84-69 victory over New Mexico State in El Paso...

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Utah State came away with an expected win.

Another road win
Shawn Harrison
The Herald Journal
December 21, 2008

POCATELLO, Idaho — When you get balanced scoring, outrebound your opponent and shoot a better percentage, good things usually happen.

Utah State did all of that Saturday night at Holt Arena inside the Minidome on the campus of Idaho State. It paid off to the tune of a 67-57 win in front of 2,976 fans, many of which were vocal Aggies.

The visitors led from start to finish to record their third straight victory.

“We haven’t been on our homecourt since Dec. 2,” USU head coach Stew Morrill said. “I was proud of our guys for just grinding it out and finding a way to win. It wasn’t really pretty, but we did what we needed to do...”

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Here's Jared Eborn of The Deseret News with a USU blog entry.

Idaho also earned a victory last night.

Vandals protect home court with 67-46 victory
Courtesy: Idaho Athletic Media Relations
12/20/2008

MOSCOW, Idaho – The University of Idaho men’s basketball used 55-percent shooting to protect its perfect record at home in a 67-46 victory over Texas Southern Saturday.

The Vandals (6-5) hit 24-of-44 field goals and 8-of-16 3-point attempts on the way to their fifth-consecutive win at home. Texas Southern (0-11) was held to just 39-percent shooting in the contest and committed 24 turnovers...

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