Brad Horn/Nevada Appeal
RENO " The Nevada Wolf Pack gave new meaning to the phrase opening-night jitters Thursday night in the Western Athletic Conference tournament.
"I could sense all day that we were feeling the pressure of hosting the tournament," Wolf Pack head coach Mark Fox said after a workmanlike 78-69 victory over the San Jose State Spartans at Lawlor Events Center in front of 7,084 fans. "The entire day I could feel that we felt the pressure of playing at home."
The Wolf Pack, which won the last WAC Tournament played in Reno in 2006, improved to 20-11 with the quarterfinal-round victory.
"There is a little bit more pressure in a game like this," said Wolf Pack freshman Luke Babbitt, who was playing in his first postseason game at the college level. "It's obviously not just a regular game. But we got over that."
And then some.
The Wolf Pack, behind a career-high 30 points from Babbitt, overcame a sluggish start to beat the San Jose Spartans for the third time this season. The victory moves the Pack into tonight's semifinal round at 9 p.m. (ESPN2) against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, 70-62 winners over Idaho Thursday night.
"I didn't coach well," said Fox of the nine-point victory over San Jose State, a team the Pack beat by 23 just a week earlier on the same floor. "Our players bailed me out."
It was Babbitt who did most of the bailing. The 6-foot-9 Galena High graduate scored 11 of Nevada's first 13 points of the second half to give his team a 50-41 lead with 14 minutes to play.
"My teammates found me when I was open and I hit some shots," the soft-spoken Babbitt said. "It was just one of those nights. They went to a zone and I was able to get some open looks."
Babbitt's flurry gave the Pack a lead they would never relinquish. But there were a few tense moments. San Jose State (13-17) got a 3-pointer from Adrian Oliver, two free throws by Chris Oakes and a jumper by DaShawn Wright to cut the Pack lead to 50-49 with 11:35 to play.
"They went to a zone (on defense) and we didn't play well for two or three minutes and they got back into the game," Fox said.
Malik Cooke and Armon Johnson, though, then took over for Babbitt on the offensive end. Cooke drilled a 15-foot jumper and a 3-pointer from the right corner and Johnson drained a trey from the top of the key for a 58-49 Wolf Pack lead with 8:40 to play.
Cooke, who had 17 points at San Jose State on Feb. 12 on 8-of-9 shooting, finished with 16 points (6-of-8 from the floor) and six rebounds.
"I knew Malik would play well, not only tonight, but this whole week," Fox said.
Fox, though, knows his team must play better tonight and Saturday if it wants to win its third WAC Tournament title in the last six years. The Pack, which has now won at least 20 games in a school-record six consecutive seasons, also won the tournament in 2004 in Fresno and 2006 in Reno.
"It wasn't a thing of beauty," Fox said. "But we were able to accomplish what we wanted to accomplish. That's what matters this time of year."
It wasn't a thing of beauty but the Wolf Pack never led by less than seven points after Johnson's 3-pointer. The Pack also shot better than 50 percent (26-of-50) from the floor for the third time in three games against the Spartans. The Pack also held the Spartans to 12 offensive rebounds, nine less than a week ago at Lawlor.
"We believed we could win but Nevada was just better than we were tonight," San Jose State coach George Nessman said. "They kicked our butts twice this year so I'm sure they came into this game pretty confident."
The Pack defense held Oliver, the Spartans' leading scorer at 17.4 points a game, to 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting. Oliver, a 6-4 slashing guard, had just three points on 1-of-11 shooting against the Wolf Pack last week.
"I knew he'd play better this time and he did," Fox said. "He was able to finish off some plays tonight."
The Wolf Pack also was concerned about defending 6-9 junior forward C.J. Webster. Webster, who had 22 points and 12 rebounds against the Wolf Pack last week, had 14 points and just three rebounds in 23 minutes before fouling out.
"The biggest factor for us was the early foul trouble on C.J.," Nessman said. "They had a hard time guarding C.J. and he had to sit the bench for an awful lot of minutes because of the fouls."
"It was frustrating," Webster said. "You want to be out there and help your team. I feel like I'm a big difference."
The only real negative from Thursday night was a knee bruise Johnson suffered late in the first half. The sophomore played the entire second half with a noticeable limp, finishing with 14 points. Guard Joey Shaw also was limited by a sore right knee that has bothered him most of the season.
"With Armon it was bone on bone," Fox said. "It was like somebody taking a bat and hitting his knee. Nancy Kerrigan lost a gold medal because of something like that. Hopefully it doesn't cost us. But we have to deal with it. We have no choice."
The Wolf Pack split two games with Louisiana Tech this season, winning at Ruston, La., 67-64, on a last-second 3-pointer by Babbitt on Jan. 10 and losing, 78-75, at Lawlor on Feb. 5. The Pack was eliminated in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament the past two years at New Mexico State, losing to Utah State in 2007 and the host Aggies last year.
"As a team we know we can play better than we did (against San Jose)," Babbitt said. "The good news is we still won when we didn't play that well."