Mississippi State 53, UT-San Antonio 42 – Dec. 4
It wasn’t pretty for the Roadrunners, 27 percent from the field on 15 of 55 shooting not pretty. Not that the Bulldogs were much better at 45 percent. But three of UTSA’s starters either didn’t score or scored less than five points. The starting five combined for just 30 points in a game the Roadrunners have most likely already erased from their minds. Miss. St. center Wendell Lewis came off the bench to lead all players with 20 points. UTSA did manage to out-rebound its SEC foe, by a 33-31 margin.
New Mexico State 58, South Alabama 53 – Dec. 4
The Aggies began the season 1-3 but have since turned things around winning four of their last five games. Though the opposition hasn’t been top notch, New Mexico State still looks to be one of the WAC heavyweights. Bandja Sy took a little of the pressure off of do-everything sophomore Daniel Mullings Tuesday evening, and the Frenchman’s double double consisted of 11 points and 14 rebounds. Mullings scored 13 points on 6 of 10 shooting while gargantuan center Sim Bhullar came off the bench to add another 12. Though the teams were even at 27 second half points scored a piece, NMSU’s first half 31 did the trick for the now 5-4 Aggies. The defending WAC champions visit rival New Mexico on the 15th before returning to Las Cruces four days later for a home match-up with the Lobos.
Northwestern State 89, La. Tech 83- Dec. 4
A high-scoring affair between the in-state opponents saw three Bulldog players score at least 15 points, but the La. Tech defense allowed the Demons’ bench players to score 56. Four of those bench players scored at least 10 points while Shamir Davis was the only NW State starter to score more than 10, as he notched a game-high 20. La. Tech’s Michale Kyser was an asset on the boards, pulling down 17 rebounds for the visitors. Raheem Appleby and Kenneth Smith each had 17 points for the Bulldogs but Smith’s 17 came on 4 of 17 shooting from the field. As a team, La. Tech shot a miserable 34 percent from the field.
Oral Roberts 86, Texas State 77- Dec. 5
The two met for the first time since 1955 but it was the 4 combined points from the Golden Eagles’ Warren Niles and Damen Bell-Holter that propelled Oral Roberts to victory in San Marcos. The Bobcats opened the game with a 15-4 run but the Eagles countered with a run of their own and didn’t look back after taking a 33-31 lead in the first half. Texas State was led by Matt Staff, who had 19 points on 8 of 12 shooting. Joel Wright and Corey Stern combined for 29 more of the Bobcats’ points. They play four more nonconference games before opening up their one and only WAC season at home against San Jose State.
Denver 69, Mercer 40- Dec. 5
Denver ended a four-game home skid against the Bears, and put the defensive clamps on early, only allowing its opponent 19 first half points. The story was forward Royce O’Neale, who scored 22 points on 9 of 14 shooting and went 3 of 6 from three-point range. Though Mercer managed only 11 bench points, nine players came off the bench to log minutes for the visitors, who shot 35 percent from the field. The Pioneers shouldn’t receive too much of a test in their next game, when they host Nebraska-Omaha.
San Jose State 73, UC Davis 64- Dec. 5
The Aggies have given up at least 70 points in all six of their games and are currently riding a three-game losing streak against teams that played in the WAC last season. James Kinney’s 23.4 points-per-game are fourth-best in the nation and the senior improved on that Wednesday with another 27. Only once this season had Kinney scored less than 20 points. A well-rounded effort on the Spartans’ part included 12 points a piece from Chris Cunningham and D.J. Brown while Ryan Sypkens of UC Davis led the Aggies with 18 points.
Utah State vs. BYU (Postponed)- Dec. 5
The in-state rivals will reschedule their game due to the condition of Aggie forward Danny Berger, who collapsed during practice and had to be revived after he stopped breathing.
Theo Lawson can be reached at [email protected]