Sunday is WAC day

Believe it or not, Steve Cleveland's club was 'in the zone' on Sunday:

Bulldog men clamp down on San Diego
Fresno State hoops team holds Toreros to 19% shooting in rout.
Marek Warszawski
The Fresno Bee
December 06, 2009

All Fresno State men's basketball coach Steve Cleveland wanted was consistent effort.

For perhaps the first time all season, the Bulldogs surpassed their coach's expectations.

Five days after a dispiriting loss to Pacific, newly energized Fresno State made life miserable for University of San Diego in a surprising 69-37 victory Sunday at the Save Mart Center.

In snapping a four-game losing streak, the Bulldogs held a Toreros team with nonconference victories over Oklahoma, Stanford and Houston to 18.6% shooting...

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Travis Mason-Bushman/Vandal Nation is all over the Idaho decimation of Portland, video interviews included:

Pilots left stunned as Idaho’s defense crushes #25 Portland
Travis Mason-Bushman
Vandal Nation
December 6, 2009

The Portland Pilots, the No. 25 team in the country, came to Moscow tonight for Idaho’s first-ever home showdown with a nationally-ranked non-conference opponent — and were promptly blown right back out the doors of historic Memorial Gym.

To the thundering cheers of a sellout crowd in the venerable home of Idaho basketball, the Vandals made history by destroying #25 Portland, 68-48, for Idaho’s first victory over a nationally-ranked team since 1982...

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TM-B, going multimedia, also provides game photos galore here.

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Hawaii completed the WAC trifecta with a solid win over visiting Lamar.

Hawaii snaps skid with 96-78 victory
Balocka's 20 points, 20 rebounds help overwhelm Lamar
Dayton Morinaga
Honolulu Advertiser
December 7, 2009

The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team was at its Sunday best in a 96-78 victory over Lamar yesterday.

The Rainbow Warriors established season-highs for points, 3-pointers, field-goal percentage and assists, and got a rare 20-20 performance from Petras Balocka...

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and

Balocka's big night carries 'Bows
Brian McInnis
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
December 07, 2009

Petras Balocka was unstoppable. Every rebound, carom and bounce ended up in his hot hands.

Balocka posted 20 points and 20 rebounds in Hawaii's 96-78 blowout win over Lamar last night at the Stan Sheriff Center, the first 20-20 game (and most rebounds by a UH player) since Nash's school-record 30 against Arizona State in 1971.

"He's a good rebounder, but Bob Nash is a better rebounder," said Nash, the Hawaii coach, with a straight face as Balocka sat two seats over during the postgame press conference. "Never in question. But it was good to see that he went to the board the way he did. He really did a nice job, and I applaud him for that, because that's just hard work. He does it every day in practice, and it happened in the game."

A crowd of 2,597 had plenty to cheer about, as Balocka and Roderick Flemings (game-high 22 points) led the Rainbow Warriors (3-4) to their best game of the year; the much-needed victory snapped a four-game losing streak at the start of a nine-game homestand.

The 'Bows put up season bests in field-goal percentage (.550), 3-pointers made (nine), assists (23), and high-fives (too many to count). Every player on the active roster scored, including walk-ons Beau Albrechtson and Rykin Enos, who notched their first career points in garbage time on the Southland Conference Cardinals (3-6)...

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Jason Groves is back with a feature on New Mexico State's struggles:

Offensive struggles could doom Aggies
Jason Groves
Las Cruces Sun-News
12/07/2009

LAS CRUCES — The New Mexico State men's basketball team has excelled in one or two areas in Marvin Menzies' first two years as head coach.

It was rebounding two years ago. Last year, the Aggies were a Top 10 3-point shooting team.

Offense has been a constant.

The 2009-10 club started off looking like perhaps it could hide defensive deficiencies with their ability to score. That hasn't been the case the past two games, as the Aggies have fallen well short of season averages in bad losses to UTEP (79-58 on Dec. 1) and New Mexico (75-58 on Saturday) in the past five days.

"It's tough to swallow right now, the lack of execution," Menzies said. "But it's what we have to work on. The bright side, if there is one, the things that we are falling short on are things that we can improve upon if we work hard..."

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The Aggies obviously need the infusion of Wendell McKines and Troy Gillenwater in order to releive some of the pressure on the backcourt. Will they or won't they be eligible this season?

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Shawn Harrison/Herald Journal features USU's shooting troubles against St. Mary's:

Ags struggled shooting vs. Gaels
Shawn Harrison
Herald Journal
December 7, 2009

Top scorers go a combined 10-for-30 from field

Coming into Saturday’s game against Saint Mary’s, Utah State forward Tai Wesley was shooting 55.4 percent from the field.

The Aggie junior knew he was going to have his hands full, as the Gaels started two 6-foot-11 players (Omar Samhan and Ben Allen), who both know how to rebound, score and play defense. Samhan and Allen both played a big part in helping their team end a 37-game home winning streak by USU.

Samhan scored 22 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, while Allen chipped in 14 points (12 coming off 3-pointers) and pulled down seven boards in the Gaels’ 68-63 win at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum...

Go here for the remainder.

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Tony Jones/Salt Lake City Tribune blogs about Tai Wesley here.

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Chris Murray/Reno Gazette-Journal offers some plusses and minuses from the Nevada game versus Pacific:

Three up, three down from Pack's loss to Pacific
Chris Murray
Reno Gazette-Journal
12/6/2009

Three up and three down from the Nevada basketball team's 61-58 loss to Pacific on Saturday night in Stockton, Calif...

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