Utah State dominates Nevada

RENO, Nev. (AP) " Gary Wilkinson scored 21 points and Jared Quayle and Tai Wesley each had double-doubles to help Utah State win the Western Athletic Conference tournament championship 72-62 over Nevada on Saturday night.

Quayle had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Wesley 14 points and 11 rebounds for the top-seeded Aggies (30-4), who held Nevada scoreless for the first 6 1/2 minutes and denied Wolf Pack scoring leader Luke Babbitt a field goal until 16:24 was left in the game.

The tournament title gave the WAC's regular season champs their sixth trip to the NCAA tournament in 10 years, but first since 2006.

Armon Johnson scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half while Babbitt, a freshman, finished with only eight points on 3-of-12 shooting for second-seeded Nevada (21-12), which made only two of its first 21 attempts from the field and shot 30 percent.

Nevada coach Mark Fox said Babbitt had an injured back.

Trailing 28-23 at the half, the closest Nevada came in the second half was when Johnson's two-handed dunk made it 29-25 with 18:38 remaining.

Williams, who finished with 12 points, and Tyler Newbold hit consecutive 3-pointers and Wilkinson scored on a hook on an 8-0 run to push the lead to 38-27.

Joey Shaw made a 15-footer but Wilkinson answered with a jump hook and a 19-footer to spark another 12-0 run that put the Aggies ahead 49-32 with 9:40 left. Johnson converted a 3-point play but Quayle nailed a 3-point goal and Wesley tipped in a rebound for a 54-35 lead.

Lyndale Burleson, Malik Cooke and Babbitt made consecutive 3-pointers to pull within 54-44 with 4:08 remaining. But Utah State ran off another six straight points to go up 61-44 on Wilkinson's basket inside with 2:47 left.

Cooke made a 3-pointer, then Johnson made two 3s around a three-point play to cut it to 66-56 with 1:18 on the clock. But Wilkinson made two free throws and Williams slammed home Newbold's alley-oop pass to make it 70-59.

Utah State raced to a 13-0 lead as Nevada missed its first 10 shots before Ahyaro Phillips' tip-in with 13:30 left in the first half.

Shaw scored to cut the lead to 15-4 but Quayle, Wesley and Wilkinson made three more baskets to put the Aggies up 21-4 midway through the half.

The Wolf Pack's dry spell continued until Johnson converted a 3-point play to spark an 11-0 run capped by Phillips tip in to pull within 21-15.

Utah State had its own 5-minute scoring drought until Newbold's basket 4:13 before the half. But Shaw matched it then turned a steal into a 3-point play when he was fouled on a layup to cut the Aggies' lead to 25-21.

Utah State's Stavon Williams added a 3-point goal at 1:10 but Nevada's Dario Hunt made two free throws just before the half to make it 28-23.

Cooke finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and six steals while Shaw had 10 points.