Rebels lose 4th straight game after blundering finish in Fresno

After posting a sub-.500 record in the month of January, UNLV men’s basketball’s February isn’t off to a good start either.

Having already lost three consecutive games by 10-plus points or more, the Runnin’ Rebels were stunned at the buzzer, 98-96, Tuesday, Feb. 3 by the Fresno State Bulldogs from the Save Mart Center. The wild finish means the two programs will split both its regular season meetings.

“I’m sure we’ll come out and do better next game,” junior guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn said. “Have better reactions, I feel like if anything that could’ve put us back – how we reacted to some things. Maybe that’s probably what could’ve put us on the bad side [of] the refs but at the end of the day, we weren’t the only ones. They had an arena full of fans yelling at them too.”

The four-game losing streak has pushed UNLV’s overall record to 10-12 this season with a 5-6 mark in the Mountain West. In addition, the team flip-flopped spots with Fresno State and now sit in the eighth spot in the conference standings.

Tuesday marked the end of a two-game road trip for the Rebels while Saturday, Feb. 7 will be the start of a two-game homestand. That stretch opens with a 1:30 p.m. matchup with the Grand Canyon Lopes from the Thomas & Mack Center.

Fresno State closed the final six seconds of regulation on a 7-0 run to steal the game and the hearts of UNLV. In fact, the former went the final three-plus minutes without a made field goal en route to losing on the buzzer-beating basket.

There were 11 fouls committed by the Rebels in the final 2:43 of the game with 35 fouls being called on the team in total.

“The stuff I’m thinking right now is probably not too smart for me to say, especially on camera,” Gibbs-Lawhorn said. “Most of it is about the refs. Usually, I’m the type of guy that’s like refs don’t win or lose games, it’s on us even if they’re calling a bad game. Just being able to play through it and control what you can control and I feel like we did that to the best of our ability and I feel like that one was taken from us.

“If you watch college basketball and you watched our game tonight, I don’t think you’ve ever seen that happen in college basketball history. Ever.”

Five players fouled out for a UNLV club that played its second straight game without freshman forward Tyrin Jones (shoulder). In addition, the Rebels were assessed three technical fouls and two flagrant fouls.

One of those flagrants came with six seconds left in the game with the team up five to start that 7-0 run. That foul was called on senior guard Al Green which led to the five-possession by the home team to tie the game at 96 apiece.

“They said [Green] hit [Bulldogs player] in the neck,” head coach Josh Pastner said. “Everybody on the bench told me there was no flagrant, that it was just a basketball play.”

Gibbs-Lawhorn fouled out with a flagrant foul and a technical foul from the bench after being disqualified from the contest.

“Like I said, they’re coming and hitting us first,” he said. “We told them at halftime, ‘Yo, they’re hitting us. We’re not no type of team to lay down and just accept it like we’re going to hit back. So if that’s the type of game you’re going to have either don’t call anything or call it both ways.”

Gibbs-Lawhorn matched his 28-point performance from the first meeting of the season between the two Mountain West squads. He scored those 28 points on a very hot 10-of-13 from the floor with four made threes. In fact, his fourth three of the game came in the second half to extend his team’s lead to nine.

Ultimately, UNLV was up 13 points with 10:07 left in regulation.

It was a dominant start for the Rebels with them scoring their first 10 points of the game from inside the paint. The team’s first points outside the paint came at the 15:03-mark of the first half.

Moreover, UNLV held Fresno State without a point for the first three minutes and 19 seconds of the second half.

In between those moments, the Bulldogs found their stride. The home team went on a 12-0 run and 31-12 run overall to climb back into the game.

At one point, the Rebels went from up nine points to down the same nine points. In that first half, both teams combined to shoot 35-for-57 from the field as a single point separated the two at halftime.

To make matters worse, UNLV led the entire second half before that late run by Fresno State.

Senior guard Howie Fleming Jr. went 6-for-6 in the first half with a made three for 14 points midway through the game. In total, he connected on each of his first seven field goals on his way to 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting.

“Howie played amazing,” Gibbs-Lawhorn said. “Anytime Howie has a game like that, I’m really excited for him because I know how good he is and I know how much he loves the game.”

Senior forward Kimani Hamilton and freshman guard Issac Williamson each added 14 points apiece before both players ultimately fouled out.

“Tough pill to swallow,” Pastner said. “Tough loss. Hard one to swallow there. Really disappointing, had chances to win and just didn’t get it done. We just kept fouling, fouling, fouling late.”