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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, December 18, 2005

Pacific's second-half surge overwhelms Fresno State

Associated Press

New Mexico State's Tyrone Nelson shot over UTEP's Tremaine Fuqua during the first half of last night's game. UTEP won, 80-67.

VICTOR CALZADA | Associated Press

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STOCKTON, Calif. — Christian Maraker had 24 points and eight rebounds as Pacific surged in the second half to beat Fresno State, 99-63, last night.

Mike Webb scored 13 of his 18 points in the first seven minutes of the second half as Pacific turned a four-point halftime lead into a dominating 36-point victory. The Tigers outscored the Bulldogs 52-20 after the intermission.

Johnny Gray and Steffan Johnson each scored 13 points for the Tigers, who improved to 7-3 with their third win in a row.

It was Pacific's largest margin of victory since 2000.

Ja'Vance Coleman scored 24 points and Quinton Hosley had 21 points and 13 rebounds to lead Fresno State, which fell to 4-3.

After Fresno State closed to 47-45 early in the second half, Webb answered with three consecutive 3-pointers sandwiched around Maraker's dunk to begin a 31-11 run over the next 10 minutes.

UTEP 80, New Mexico State 67: John Tofi and Miguel Ayala led a balanced scoring offense with 16 points apiece and the host Miners (5-2) opened the second half with an 11-2 run for a 47-34 lead in beating the Aggies (3-6) at El Paso, Texas.

Tofi also had a game-high 12 rebounds. Shaun Davis scored 21 points and David Fisher had 14 points and 10 rebounds for New Mexico State.

Boise State 79, Utah Valley State 62: Eric Lane scored 18 points, Coby Karl added 17, including 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range, and the host Broncos (5-3) made 12 of 23 3-point attempts to beat the Wolverines (5-5) at Boise, Idaho.

Boise State never trailed and withstood a pair of Utah Valley rallies, led by Sylvester Allison, who led all scorers with 23 points.

Idaho 77, EASTERN Oregon 58: Forward David Dubois scored a career-high 21 points, leading the host Vandals (2-6) over the NAIA Division II Mountaineers (5-3) at Moscow, Idaho.

The Mountaineers, who never led, trailed 37-29 following a 6-2 spurt to open the second half, but Idaho responded with 14-5 run over the next 4:13, and the Vandals were never threatened the rest of the way.

Louisiana Tech 80, McNeese State 67: Paul Millsap scored 24 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and Corey Dean added 14 points, leading the host Bulldogs (6-4) over the Cowboys (2-3) at Ruston, La.

Louisiana Tech led 28-23 at the half, and got 37 points from its bench. J.T. Williams led the Cowboys with 24 points and seven rebounds. Jamelle Juneau and Quention Gonzales each added 10 for McNeese State.

Drake 82, San Jose State 64: Chaun Brooks shot 5 for 5 from 3-point range and finished with 21 points, and the visiting Bulldogs (6-3) raced to a 50-27 halftime lead and never looked back in beating the Spartans (4-6) at San Jose, Calif.

The game marked the return of San Jose State's leading scorer, Demetrius Brown, who had sat out the four previous games with a bacterial infection on his abdomen. Brown had 19 points and made 8 of 10 field-goal attempts.

WAC