Late stop, balanced scoring leads UNLV past UC Irvine, advances to NIT’s 2nd round

UNLV men’s basketball has its third postseason win in the last two seasons.

Participating in the NIT for the second time in the last three seasons, the Runnin’ Rebels edged the UC Irvine Anteaters, 75-72, Tuesday, March 17 in the first round. UNLV had to overcome the Big West Regular Season Champions in front of their home crowd.

After picking up its 18th win of the season, head coach Josh Pastner’s guys have advanced to play Tulsa in hostile territory with a date and time to be announced.

Even with the win, the Rebels scored just two points over the final three minutes of the game. Those two points came in the form of two converted free throws by senior forward Kimani Hamilton.

Prior to that, UNLV nearly blew a lead it had all game after trailing 2-0 early and going on an immediate 8-0 run. The team ultimately led for more than 39 minutes in the ball game.

UCI opened the game with misses on its first eight field goal attempts with its first made shot coming almost eight minutes into the game. In the first half, the home team shot 8-for-33 from the floor.

On the contrary, the Eaters came out of the halftime break making nine of its first 11 shots on the way to shooting 17-for-29 in the second half.

When it had things in control, UNLV went up by as many as 18 points in the first half. That can be much attributed to its 14-for-27 shooting mark in the first 20 minutes of the contest.

Mountain West leading scorer Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn scored 12 points in the first half but would be headed for a defensive switch in the second half. After being faced with the diamond-and-one defense, he would have his scoring halted abruptly.

To compound matters, he picked up four fouls and would leave the floor with just over 11 minutes left in regulation. Pastner would opt to sit the combo guard for nearly eight minutes.

Hamilton picked up the scoring in the second half on the way to leading the team in scoring with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting. He also added five rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocks.

He added a poster dunk over the country’s No. 1 shot blocker Kyle Evans to the highlight reel. Frontcourt teammate Tyrin Jones got in on the action as well with a punch over the 6-foot, 10-inch forward who averaged more than three blocks a game this year.

Jones also converted a fast break one-hand jam while being fouled earlier in the second half to reach double-digit scoring. He’d finish the game with 13 points on 5-of-7 from the field to go along with four blocks.

Late in regulation, Jones missed the front-end of two consecutive trips to the free throw line with chances to extend his team’s three-point lead.

“Four blocked shots,” Pastner said. “He was incredible, the only thing is his free throws. He’s just got to make the free throws. In the offseason we’re going to shoot about 1,000 a day. But God bless Tyrin Jones, he’s amazing. I’m so glad he’s a UNLV Runnin’ Rebel.”

Senior guard Howie Fleming Jr. added 12 points and nine rebounds in more than 35 minutes of floor time. Freshman guard Issac Williamson was the fifth and final player in double-figures for Pastner’s group with 13 points including four made three-pointers.