Late Night Snacks: Working overtime in the Mountain West

Game of the Night

No. 16 San Diego State 79, Colorado State 72 (OT): Wonderful, classic game. In the first half, SDSU’s speedy, athletic offense had its way, staking the home team to a 41-23 halftime lead. In the second, Colorado State ramped up their formidable defense and clawed back into it, tying things up 63-all on a Colton Iverson layup shortly before time expired on regulation. In OT, it was the Chase Tapley show. The senior guard scored 12 of his team’s 16 points in the extra period, and managed to keep his head when tempers got hot in waning seconds of added time. Jamaal Franklin led all scorers with 23 points, and Minnesota transfer Colton Iverson had a beastly 18 point, 11 rebound effort for the visiting Rams. After the game, SDSU head coach Steve Fisher said he thought these two teams would contend for the MWC crown. We tend to agree.

Meaningful Results

No. 24 UNLV 76, Air Force 71 (OT): No easy outs in the Mountain West, obviously. The Falcons got a huge game from forward Mike Fitzgerald. The 6’6″ senior poured in 22 points to match UNLV’s Anthony Bennett for the game high. Foul trouble eventually did Air Force in, but not until an overtime period was played, and not until Bryce DeJean-Jones scored eight of his 18 in OT. Shades of Chase Tapley.

No. 4 Arizona 80, Oregon State 70: Having already snapped their unbeaten streak against the Ducks earlier this week, the Wildcats weren’t taking any chances with the Beavers. Mark Lyons and Solomon Hill each had 16 points to lead four Arizona starters in double figures, but it took a little defense to survive 18 points from OSU’s Ahmad Starks and a man-style 13/15 double-double from Devon Collier to move to 3-1 in the rejuvenated Pac-12.

Ole Miss 64, No. 10 Missouri 49: Murphy Holloway’s 22 points happened in 31 minutes of relatively early play. As the clock ran down, it became obvious that the Tigers were not even thinking of coming back, and he got to take it easy and watch the backups play a bit. Ole Miss used a fierce perimeter defense to harass Mizzou’s four-guard lineup into a miserable 2-18 night from behind the arc.

Starred

Elston Turner, Texas A&M: 40 points all by his lonesome, in Rupp Arena, over the defending national champs. Not a bad night’s work.

Keith Clanton, Central Florida: Clanton earned 36 points the hard way, because he really doesn’t shoot threes much. Clanton was 1-1 from behind the arc, but most of his work was done inside, where he was 14-18 to go with 5-7 from the stripe. Despite all that, Eastern Carolina won the game, 88-85 in OT.

Struggled

South Florida: No. 3 Louisville more than doubled USF’s rebounding efforts, grabbing 48 against the Bulls’ 22. They also had 12 steals in a defensive clinic that led to a 64-38 win at the KFC Yum! Center.

Phil Pressey, Missouri: Ten points, five assists and five turnovers. 0-4 from deep, and no free throws. An utterly forgettable night for an All-America candidate. If only he could forget it.

Fan Bases that have earned the right to Take a Breath and Take a Seat

Miami (OH) and Buffalo: MACtion isn’t limited to the football field, it seems. I got exhausted just reading the tweet:

If you were watching something else, M-OH led 56-31, but BUF had 26-0 run to take 57-56 lead. M-OH made 2 FT in final seconds to win 58-57.

— Jason McCallum (@ESPNJMac) January 13, 2013

Eric Angevine is the editor of Storming the Floor. He tweets @stfhoops.