With 3.6 seconds left in the half, Nevada freshman Armon Johnson missed his second free throw. After a NMSU turnover, Johnson had a chance at redemption.

Johnson hit about a 25-foot from the near the top of the key with 1.6 seconds left to give the Wolf Pack a 33-31 lead over New Mexico State in the WAC Tournament.

A pretty sloppy half for both teams. JaVale McGee started the game off nicely for the Wolf Pack, dunking over Hatila Passos and blocking him on defense.

After the block went into the stands, McGee stared into the north section of the stands.

McGee leads all scores with 11 points and senior Demarshay Johnson leads the team in rebounds with six.

Marcelus Kemp has nine points and Armon Johnson has six.

Justin Hawkins leads the Aggies with 10 points.

The Wolf Pack shot 41 percent in the first half (11-27) while the Aggies shot 43 (12-28). Malik Cooke and Kemp each have two fouls. For New Mexico State, Wendell McKines has three fouls, Martin Iti has two and Passos has two.

Nevada media services director Rhonda Lundin said that senior Marcelus Kemp, sophomore JaVale McGee and freshman Armon Johnson will not start today’s game against New Mexico State.

The three were late to a film session today and the punishment is that they won’t start.

They will, however, come in on the first stoppage of play, Lundin said.

The Boise State Broncos men’s basketball team is in the finals of the WAC Tournament.

After sensational shooting and good perimeter defense, Boise State just overpowered the Aggies.

The cheerleaders and pep band members held their composure and celebrated their fight song for the last time of the year.

If Nevada can beat New Mexico State, which is set to tip off in about 20 minutes, it will have to beat a team it hasn’t this season for a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

But that’s looking too far ahead. Up next is the biggest game of the year for the Wolf Pack.

The feeling around reporters is that Nevada’s an underdog.  I don’t know the betting line, but New Mexico State is really good and will have a packed house right behind them.

The Boise State Broncos are up 42-37 on the Utah State Aggies at the WAC Tournament.

Boise State is hitting its 3-pointers and Utah State is having trouble containing the perimeter because most of the shots are not contested very well.

The Utah State fans are pretty silent.

A Utah State student was taking off his face paint in the bathroom because of the five-point deficit.

“And because it itches,” he said.

The Nevada-New Mexico State game is about an hour-and-a-half away. Aggies fans are starting to show up. People are talking sell out.

The home crowd has been one of the most talked about aspects in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament for New Mexico State.

With appologies, I’m throwing a log on the fire.

The Aggies women’s basketball team just beat the No. 1 seed Boise State Broncos, 72-66, despite being down 14 at halftime.

Aggies star Sherell Neal looked depleted when she was jogging down the court after she was blocked and looked like she felt there was a foul.

Boise State was up 51-32 with 15:56 left in the game. Then came, dare I say it, the crowd.

The 4, 163 fans, mostly rooting for the home team, helped fuel a huge comeback as the crowd was into every play.

That doesn’t look good for the Nevada men’s team. I thought the game was over in the first half, but the crowd made the environment so intense and so vibrant.

This tells us that no lead is safe against this crowd, stacking even more odds in New Mexico State’s favor for the 7:30 p.m. (PST) tipoff.

Here are the stories that involve Nevada in the local paper here in Las Cruces, N.M.

Game against Nevada

Nevada playing well despite early doubters

I know I’ve been putting quite a few links from the Fresno Bee, but there’s a reason: they have good writers. Here’s yesterday’s gamer.

Bulldogs show fight before falling at Nevada 

Also, if you were wondering about Fresno State coach Steve Cleveland’s job status, read this.

The Reno Gazette-Journal has a few stories.

Eh, and eh.

Enjoy.

Sitting inside La Posta Mexican restaurant this afternoon, a flyer on the table read “Home teams wins games 70 percent of the time.”

The note had a New Mexico State fan cheering as the advertisement urged New Mexicans to buy tickets for the Western Athletic Conference Tournament.

So, according to the flyer, Nevada has a 30 percent chance of beating the Aggies when the teams meet today at 7:30 p.m. (PST) on KAME cable channel 7.

It’s the most anticipated game of the season for the Wolf Pack and for the Aggies. There’s so much on the line. The crowd, and some of the homer media here, will be out of control.

It’s hard not to like New Mexico State. They played phenomenal last night against Idaho in a 73-53 win. Yes I know it’s Idaho, but they could have beat a lot of teams last night the way they played.

Justin Hawkins brought the crowd to its feet with sensational slashing and solid shooting (by the way I love alliteration).

Nevada’s just as capable of turning it up, so I expect the best game of the tournament.

Friday will be the best day of the tournament.

Since there were no upsets in either the men’s or women’s Western Athletic Conference Tournaments, the top four seeds will square off.

For the men, you got to love seeing Utah State against Boise State and New Mexico State against Nevada.

The Nevada women’s basketball team isn’t here, but New Mexico State against Boise State and Louisiana Tech against Fresno State is intriguing, too.

I’m predicting that all games will be within 10 points in the final four minutes. If you don’t have WAC.tv you might want to think about getting it.

Today the teams that played best were Utah State and New Mexico State.

Both Aggies’ had good play from their stars (Jaycee Carrol had 24 points, Justin Hawkins had 26) and both looked really confident.

Nevada and Boise State both escaped with wins but didn’t play particularly well. JaVale McGee stepped up for Nevada with 22 and 10; Hawaii folded in the end against Boise State, despite having the lead and momentum at halftime.

However, a different day can reveal a different team. That’s something we learned early this season that inconsistency plagued every team, hence a four-way tie for first place.

Friday should be a good day.

JaVale McGee scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Wolf Pack advanced in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament Thursday with a 64-57 win against Fresno State.