UNLV withstands New Mexico rally in road win

Albuquerque, N.M – Freshman guard Patrick McCaw scored 22 points as UNLV staved off several rallies en route to a 76-68 Mountain West Conference win over host New Mexico on Saturday afternoon.

New Mexico (14-13, 6-9) climbed within three points on eight different occasions in the second half, even bridging the gap to one-point twice, but each of the Lobos’ runs were answered by UNLV.

When asked what the key was in holding off the Lobos, UNLV head coach Dave Rice responded:

“I think just playing together and I thank our senior leadership in Cody Doollin and Jelan Kendrick in just keeping the guys together in timeouts.”

UNLV (15-12, 6-8) utilized its speed and athleticism, outscoring the Lobos 18-4 in fast break points.

UNLV put the game away with 5:17 remaining with freshman guard Jordan Cornish’s first basket of the game — a three-point bucket that put UNLV up 63-56.

“The thing that is most frustrating is losing at home, “New Mexico head coach Craig Neal said. “We have had such a great (winning) percentage here — that’s the most disheartening thing.”

Four Rebels finished the game in double figures. Sophomore forward Christian Wood put up 17 on six of 10 shooting; Senior guard Jelan Kendrick added 17, including a perfect three for three from three-point range and freshman forward Goodluck Okonoboh finished six of nine from the field for 12 points.

New Mexico sophomore center Obij Aget led the Lobos in scoring with 14 points on five of 10 shooting. Aget added eight rebounds.

“I thought Obij played as good as a game as he could play. He played outstanding,” Neal said.

It was all offense in the first half, with UNLV knocking down 15 of 29 shots from the field (51.7 percent) and New Mexico was 13 of 26 (50 percent).

Guard Patrick McCaw hit his first three shots from beyond the arc, pushing the Rebels to an early 18-7 lead just six minutes into the game. UNLV led by as many as 14 with 13:11 to go in the half.

“It was huge and that’s the problem,” Neal said of UNLV’s fast start. “We have talked about and practiced to get off to good first four minute starts and we are not doing it. We are taking bad shots, we are out of rhythm.”

New Mexico picked up the pace midway through midway through the half, using a 13-0 run to claw back and tie the score at 34 with 1:51 remaining after a three-point play from senior guard Deshawn Delaney, his first points of the game.

The Rebels then closed the half with five straight points on a putback dunk by forward Christian Wood and a 30-foot 3-pointer from guard Jelan Kendrick at the buzzer.

“I thought that the three that Jelan Kendrick hit at the end of the half gave us some momentum going into the second half, but I think that overall for three-fourths of the game, our offensive flow was good and we were very unselfish,” Rice said of his team, who had 20 assists on 27 converted field goals.

The Lobos, winners of the last three Mountain West Conference Tournaments, are now sitting in eighth place in the league after dropping their sixth loss in a row. New Mexico is also in danger of playing in one of the tournament’s seventh through-10th-seed play-in games.

Craig Neal knows that in order for the Lobos to make an appearance in their fifth straight NCAA Tournament, his team will need to win the league tournament in March.

“I hope not,” Neal responded when asked if his team was looking straight to that tournament weekend. “We have got a lot of growing to do before that. Maybe they are thinking about it but we have got to position ourselves and had a great opportunity to positon ourselves for the league tournament.”

Despite the win, the Rebels are still a game and a half behind Fresno State for sixth place in the conference.

“I think the thing about our group is, we have gotten knocked down an awful lot of times this year,