San Jose State 84, Montana State 72 — Dec. 1
The James Kinney show produced 30 points in Lawrence, Kan., not too long ago, and Kinney’s 23 helped the Spartans down the Bobcats in their third win of the season. Forward Chris Cunningham posted the game’s only double-double, with 10 rebounds and 15 points. Cunningham looks to be one of the WAC’s most versatile players and the junior is averaging 11.2 points-per-game and 9.5 rebounds-per-game.
Texas 70, UT-Arlington 54 — Dec. 1
The Longhorns opened up a convincing 20-point lead after halftime and remained unbeaten in Austin. Texas’ bench outscored its starters 43-27, led by Sheldon McLellan’s 14 and Ioannis Papapetrou’s 17. The Mavericks had a double-double from Jordan Reves (15 pts, 10 reb) but the visitors shot a dismal 29 percent from the field even considering the fact they outscored the Longhorns 36-32 in the second half.
CSU-Bakersfield 85, UT-San Antonio 52 — Dec. 1
The future WAC Roadrunners beat up on the WAC Roadrunners that won’t be a part of the conference next season. Bakersfield’s five starters each scored in double digits and guard Stephon Carter led the charge with 20 points, 10 of those coming off of a 100 percent free throw shooting night. Javonte Maynor added another 17 points for CSUB and Kannon Burrage tallied a team-high 18, despite shooting 4 of 17 from the field.
La. Tech 86, Georgia State 68 — Nov. 30
Though Kinney and Mullings were impressive in their teams’ victories, neither could match Bulldog sophomore Raheem Appleby, who dropped a career-high 34 points against the Panthers. La. Tech’s surprise WAC Tournament run last season may not be such a fluke, as the Bulldogs haven’t lost since their season-opener against Texas A&M.
Utah 74, Texas State 69 — Nov. 30
In a game that could have been a realistic win for the Bobcats, Utah made the most of Texas State leading scorer Joel Wright’s fourth foul midway through the second half. The Bobcats did knock down two 3-pointers late but foul trouble prevented them from completing a comeback against a Pac-12 opponent that moved to 5-2 with the victory. Wright concluded with 17 points and he collected 11 rebounds, two assists and three steals. For Utah, Jarred DuBois led all players with 21 points and the Utes shot 54 percent from the field.
New Mexico State 68, Southern Miss. 60 — Dec. 1
The Aggies’ Canadian sophomore might just be the best player in the conference. Daniel Mullings hasn’t completely replaced the versatility and leadership that ex-NMSU standout Wendell McKines brought, but the 6-foot-2-inch underclassman went for his first double-double of the new season against a competitive Southern Miss. squad. Mullings had 21 points and 11 boards in 31 minutes, adding a block and two steals in the Aggies’ third season win.
Boise State 87, Seattle U. 64 — Dec. 2
The one-loss Broncos continue to be scary good. That one loss was a four-point defeat at the hands of Big Ten powerhouse Michigan State, by the way. Boise State wrecked the Redhawks in Key Arena, Anthony Drmic scored a season-high 25 points, and the sophomore from Australia will undoubtedly be one of Mountain West’s best players at the season’s end. The Broncos’ bench production was also remarkable, as guard Mikey Thompson played 27 minutes and scored 19 points.
Theo Lawson can be reached at [email protected]