Late Night Snacks: Gonzaga and Washington State’s thrilling finish

Games of the Night

No. 10 Gonzaga 71, Washington State 69: The Zags and Wazzu played one of the best early season basketball games you’re going to see. Gonzaga erased a four-point halftime deficit on the strength of Elias Harris and Kelly Olynyk, going up by 11 points late in the second half. But Brock Motum and Devante Lacy got hot from the perimeter, eventually taking advantage of a couple of missed free throws by the Bulldogs in order to tie the game with 7.8 seconds left. Lacy went coast-to-coast, breaking Gary Bell’s ankle with a crossover in the process. But Kevin Pangos didn’t hesitate, taking the in-bounds and answering with a coast-to-coast drive of his own.

Olynyk and Harris combined for 45 points on 20-31 shooting from the floor. Lacy and Motum also combined for 45 points, hitting nine threes in total.

Charlotte 73, Davidson 69: The 49ers looked like they may be for real. Thanks to Pierria Henry’s baseline jumper with 27.5 seconds left in the game, Charlotte took a 71-69 lead and hung on to win after De’Mon Brooks drove into three defenders and missed a layup. Chris Braswell led the way for Charlotte, finishing with 15 points. This is a group that was overlooked heading into the season, but if they keep winning, Atlantic 10 foes are going to have to start taking them seriously.

St. Louis 67, North Texas 63: Jordair Jett and Cody Ellis finished with 17 points apiece as the Billikens won their second straight game since the passing of former head coach Rick Majerus. It’s the first time this season that they have won back-to-back games. Jett broke a 61-all tie with 35 seconds left, and Ellis hit four free throws down the stretch to ice the game.

Chris Jones had 21 points, seven assists and seven boards to lead the way for the Mean Green, who dropped to 3-6 on the season. Tony Mitchell had 18 points and eight boards.

Important Outcomes

Colorado 70, Colorado State 61: Colorado jumped out to a 42-17 lead late in the first half, and while the Rams were able to cut the lead to three points with about five minutes left, the comeback proved to take too much out of them; Colorado responded with a run of their own and finished off the win. This was a performance that Tad Boyle’s team needed. They struggled to hold off Texas Southern and lost at Wyoming last week after breaking into the top 25, looking like they bought into their own hype.

The Rams will be just fine. They ran into a buzzsaw tonight in a rowdy environment. It happens. The concern, however, is that Colorado State’s issue last season, especially in league play, was their performance on the road.

No. 18 New Mexico 75, USC 67: New Mexico closed out the first half with a 22-4 run, taking control as Hugh Greenwood caught fire from beyond the arc. He hit five threes and finished with 17 points, while Alex Kirk went for 13 points and 13 boards and Kendell Williams chipped in with 13 points and nine assists.

Starred

Geron Johnson, Memphis: Johnson went for a team-high 21 points, shooting 8-11 from the floor, as the Tigers ran over a good Ohio team, 84-58. Johnson looked like the most talented perimeter scorer Josh Pastner has at his disposal.

Spencer Dinwiddie, Colorado: 29 points on just 8-10 shooting. A big win over a big rival. Nights don’t get much better than that.

Kevin Willard, Dayton: The Flyers went into Tuscaloosa and beatdown Alabama, 81-76. Dillard was the star of the show, finishing with 25 points and six assists.

Tyreek Duren, La Salle: Duren went for 29 points as La Salle blew out Penn State at home.

Struggled

Florida State: The Seminoles lost their third straight game on Wednesday, losing by 25 at home to No. 6 Florida. FSU was down 50-19 at one point. They shot 34.6% from the floor. They turned the ball over 22 times.

Jarnell Stokes, Tennessee: For the second straight game, Tennessee failed to crack the 40 point mark. On Wednesday night, Stokes finished with five points on 2-5 shooting. That’s not going to cut it.

Villanova: The Wildcats lost by 15 at home to Big 5 rival Temple, their fourth loss in the last five games. They turned the ball over 20 times in the loss.

The Rest of the Top 25

• No. 19 Michigan State 76, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 44
• No. 23 Oklahoma State 61, South Florida 49

Notable Scores

• West Virginia 69, Marshall 59
• Niagara 62, Loyola 61
• Northern Iowa 76, Northern Colorado 59
• St. Mary’s 88, Drake 73
• Utah 76, Boise State 55

Three Facts

- Loyola Marymount won his 300th game tonight, beating Northern Arizona in overtime. Anthony Ireland had 28 points in the win.

- Maryland beat UMES 100-68, the first time that a Mark Turgeon team has reached triple digits since he lost to Baylor 116-110 in five overtimes at Texas A&M.

- Tennessee has lost three games this season. They have scored a total of 119 points in those three games. That’s a total of 39.7 points.

And one fight

That wasn’t even a real fight.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.