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For the second straight year, head coach Kevin Kruger has marched his UNLV Runnin’ Rebel team into The Pit and beat a ranked New Mexico Lobos team.
UNLV held off New Mexico, 80-77, from The Pit Saturday, Feb. 10 to earn a season-best fourth straight win. About a month ago, the Rebs held homecourt in a 10-point win against the Lobos and now have completed the season sweep.
Additionally, the program has now taken 10 of the last 11 matchups against its Mountain West foe. Now the team is 13-9 on the year and 6-4 in the conference which is good for a tie in sixth place with in-state rival Nevada – Reno.
Riding a lot of momentum, UNLV will wrap up its two-game road trip with a meeting against Fresno State on Valentine’s Day. That game is set to start at 8 p.m.
Freshman guard Dedan Thomas Jr. stepped up big time and closed the show for UNLV in its winning effort. He finished with a career-high 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting which included hitting some big shots down-the-stretch.
Thomas reached the 20-point threshold on a late turnaround jumper before coming down and hitting a pullup midrange basket on the next offensive possession. He’d be fouled on another late jumpshot attempt with less than 10 seconds left.
After entering the game with a season average of 68% from the free throw line, the second-generation Rebel star drilled his two attempts.
Seven of the eight lead changes in the game came in the second half which included several scares for UNLV. A made field goal by New Mexico despite a flagrant foul by the visitors created a four-point possession which included two free throws and the ball after the initial make to take the lead. Earlier this conference season, the Rebels lost at home to Utah State on a late five-point possession for the Aggies.
Later in the second half, UNLV had to endure an inadvertent whistle call that resulted in possession being awarded to New Mexico.
Much of the first half was dominated by the Rebels as the team led for more than 19 minutes of the 20-minute period and by as many as 12 points. A late and-one from the home team gave it its first lead of the game. The Lobos had to make it a game again in the second half and did so on the heels of a 12-0 run while holding the Rebs without a point for more than five minutes.
Junior forward Rob Whaley Jr.’s 16 points along with fifth-year forward Kalib Boone’s 11 points helped pace the team to pull away for the victory. Boone was one of three UNLV players with four fouls on the night.