Louisiana Tech men surprise No. 1 seed Nevada

LAS VEGAS – Trevor Gaskins scored 15 of his 21 points during Louisiana Tech’s hot-shooting first half, and the sixth-seeded Bulldogs held on late to stun regular-season champion Nevada 78-73 on Friday night in the Western Athletic Conference semifinals.

The Bulldogs (18-15) face second-seeded New Mexico State in today’s championship game. They became just the second No. 6 seed to reach the finals of the WAC tournament, joining Hawaii, which reached the finals in 1995 before losing to Utah.

Louisiana Tech hit its first seven 3-point attempts and sprinted to a 34-19 lead. The Bulldogs made eight 3s total in the first half and then missed all four attempts in the second half. But they hit five free throws in the final 39 seconds to hold off the Wolf Pack (26-6).

Malik Story led Nevada with 21 points, but WAC player of the year Deonte Burton was harassed all night and finished with just five points.

New Mexico State 92, Hawaii 81: Wendell McKines led five Aggies in double figures with 22 points, and NMSU (25-9) built a 20-point lead before holding off numerous rallies by the Rainbow Warriors (16-16) in the night’s first semifinal.

New Mexico State reached the conference finals for the third time since 2008.

The second-seeded Aggies blitzed the Warriors at the start, jumping out to 17-0 and 22-2 leads in the opening moments. Hawaii trimmed the deficit within single digits by halftime and got as close as 61-60 with 10:35 left but could never pull in front.

Shaquille Stokes led No. 6-seeded Hawaii with 21 points and Vander Joaquim added 17.

Hernst Laroche added 18 points for the Aggies, including a crucial four-point play midway through the second half when Hawaii appeared to have a chance at taking the lead. Tshilidzi Nephawe added 15 points, Tyrone Watson scored 13 and Daniel Mullings had 12 points and 10 rebounds for New Mexico State.

The Aggies advanced to the finals on the strength of a blistering start that could not have gone any better. They hit nine of their first 16 shot attempts and forced five turnovers before Hawaii got on the board when Joaquim scored underneath with 15:11 left to make the score 17-2. The Aggies’ lead grew to 22-2 when Nephawe converted a three-point play with 13:58 left in the half.