The four best teams in the regular season of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) were also the four best teams on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the WAC Tournament.  Utah State, Louisiana Tech, Nevada and New Mexico State all pulled away to post opening round wins at Lawlor Events Center.

In the Tournament opener, No. 8 Boise State’s leading three-point shooter Paul Noonan drilled a late trey at the halftime buzzer to keep the Broncos within 5 of No. 1 seed Utah State.  It was a great effort by Boise State, who played very well down the stretch by winning three of their final 4 games of the season—-all of them by double-digits. Their only loss was a narrow three-point defeat in Las Cruces to the eventual No. 3 seed New Mexico State.

The Aggies appeared to be pulling away early in first-half by putting down a 17-4 run.  Physical Utah State junior forward Tai Wesley led the way by scoring 6 points during the run.  But thanks to Noonan’s closing three, the Aggies couldn’t quite pull away.

The Broncos would get as close as two points before the Aggies decided to put their foot down. Once Utah State’s lone senior, point guard Jared Quayle tipped in a Wesley miss with just under 12 minutes to play the Aggies were up 10.  They never looked back, and actually closed the game on a 34-16 run to blow out Boise State.

The game was the final contest in the careers of Bronco seniors Ike Okoye, Kurt Cunningham and Anthony Thomas.

Wesley, which led Utah State to their 16th straight win, was clearly the player of the game for the Aggies, posting another double-double, plus chipping in 4 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals in an impressive outing for the Provo native.

Boise State-Utah State WAC Quarterfinal Box Score

In the second game of the afternoon quarterfinal games, Louisiana Tech and Fresno State battled for the second time in a week.  Like all No. 4 and No. 5 seed contests, this one was expected to be close. And it was.

The first two times these Bulldog squads squared off, the difference in the game was 8 points and 7 points, with each team winning at home.  Despite the fact that Louisiana Tech was the No. 4 seed, they came into the game losing 3 out of their final four contests. However, Fresno State was also reeling, having lost 5 of their final seven games.

LA Tech jumped out to the early lead, and at the 10 minute mark of the first-half, held a 21-11 lead.  After trailing by 9, the senior and sophomore tandem of Sylvester Seay and Paul George scored 11 out of Fresno State’s next 15 points to close Louisiana Tech’s lead to just one, 34-33.

After intermission, the game seesawed once again, with Louisiana Tech securing an 8-point lead early on. Fresno State came right back though to take the lead 49-47 when Seay scored again inside.  Everyone in the Lawlor Events Center crowd knew that the game would turn on one run, and it did when Louisiana Tech scored 12 of the next 15 points in the game.  Despite a few more Fresno State runs, it was a lead Kerry Rupp’s team that would not relinquish this time around as they won 74-66 thanks to a game-high 31 points from senior Jamel Guyton. A native of Texas, Guyton played like it could have been his last college game.

Fresno State, which gave up 20 points off offensive rebounds, finished the season with its third consecutive losing season at 15-18. They were led by George’s 22 points and 11 rebounds.

Tech, which stayed in Reno for over a week prior to the start of the WAC Tournament thanks to their final regular season game being in Reno, now draws the No. 1 seed Aggies.  They were one of the few teams in the conference who actually played USU very tough, including a 6-point loss in Logan and a 22-point blowout win by the Bulldogs in Ruston, which was part of a 5-0 conference start for Louisiana Tech.

For Fresno State, this could be the final game in the young careers of George, plus freshman big man Greg Smith, who took home WAC Freshman of the Year honors this past season.  Both could return to school, but no decisions have yet.

One decision that was made concerning the Bulldogs though did come after the game from Fresno State athletic director Thomas Boeh, who held a surprising news conference after the contest to announce that Bulldogs head coach Steve Cleveland will return next season.  Cleveland, who is in fifth season at Fresno State, and has three seasons left on his agreement, appears to not be on any timetable.

“He and his staff have made progress off the floor and even on the floor,” Boeh said. “This is not where we want to be, but at the same time, the progress has been quantifiable and we look forward to more success in the future.”

Fresno State-Louisiana Tech WAC Quarterfinal Box Score

In the third game of the day at the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament quarterfinals, Nevada squared off against the Idaho Vandals for the third time this season.  To no one’s surprise, the result was the same as the first two as Nevada won 87-71.

The one-two punch of Armon Johnson and Luke Babbitt came in averaging 20.0 points per game each for the Pack in the two games against Idaho earlier this year and they came out hot.  Babbitt had 11 points at halftime and along with Johnson’s eight points the Pack had a 47-34 lead.

“We used the home court advantage to our advantage,” Babbitt said of his teams’ first half performance.  Babbitt set the tone early banging a three pointer in the first minute as the Silver and Blue dominated the first half, opening the game on a 13-2 run.

“If we lose the season’s over and we know that and we came out with great energy,” Babbitt added.

Providing a spark off the bench for the Pack was senior guard Ray Kraemer.  Kraemer, who scored 14 in the first game against the Vandals but only 3 in the second match-up, was solid in this game with 9 points. The native Texan hit back to back three’s to give Nevada a 21-12 lead as the Pack were draining just about everything early.

In fact, Nevada went 7-13 from beyond the arc and shot nearly 61 percent from the field in the first half.  David Carter’s club also played excellent defensively, not committing a foul for the first ten minutes of the game as the hot hands continued to shoot.

The second-half started the same way the first half started, with a basket from All-WAC first teamer and WAC Player of the Year Luke Babbitt, as the Pack put the pedal to the metal and pulled away.  Babbitt finished with 21 points and 7 rebounds.

“It was important to stretch the lead out,” said Nevada guard Brandon Fields of the halftime adjustments the Pack made.

Dario Hunt had a pair of thunderous two-handed slams that helped Nevada open up a 19-point second half lead by the score of 57-38. The sophomore big man finished the game with 12 points and 7 boards.

The Pack extended the lead to 20 when Joey Shaw converted a layup after a foul and hit the free throw, making it 77 to push the Silver and Blue lead to 75-55.  Shaw would finish with 14 points for Nevada, as the Pack simply dominated the second half.

All five Wolf Pack starters finished with double figures with Babbitt leading the way as Nevada won its seventh game in a row at the friendly confines of the Lawlor Center.  However, it will take two more wins to get into the NCAA Tournament.

“This team is peaking right now and the best is yet to come,” said an optimistic Coach Carter when asked about the next game.  “It’s all mental at this point and I’m going to have my guys ready to go,” Carter added.

Nevada-Idaho WAC Quarterfinal Box Score

The final game of the night, featuring No. 6 San Jose State and No. 3 New Mexico State, was very similar to the first game of the day in the WAC Tournament between Boise State and Utah State.  Like the Broncos, the Spartans were able to hang around for most of the first half, plus in the early minutes after intermission. They trimmed what was an 8-point halftime lead down to five with 18 minutes to play, 43-38.

But that was as close as San Jose State would get.  The Aggies went on a convincing 17-6 run over the next 5 minutes, with all 5 starters getting in on the scoring, to build a 60-44 lead.  From there, New Mexico State would step on the Spartans throats, with senior guard Jonathan Gibson leading the way with a team-high 21 points. Junior Wendell McKines also had a terrific line, positing 15 points, 14 rebounds and 4 assists.

Final Score, NMSU 90, SJSU 69.

The win sets up another contest between New Mexico State and host Nevada.  The Pack have had the Aggies number for quite some time, including two victories this season.  Nevada beat NMSU 77-67 in Las Cruces for their first conference win of the season, and just over a week ago, the Pack also beat the Aggies 100-92 in Reno for their 10th conference win.

For San Jose State, it is the end of the line for seniors Robert Owens, Chris Oakes and Mac Peterson.  The word is still out on whether the WAC’s top scorer, junior guard Adrian Oliver, will return to school.

San Jose State-New Mexico State WAC Quarterfinal Box Score