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Looking to keep its season on track, the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels captured win No. 4 in their last four outings, claiming its first regular season sweep of the season.
UNLV ran away from Wyoming late to come away with a 69-59 win from the Arena Auditorium in Laramie. The Rebels beat the Cowboys from the Thomas & Mack Center two weeks ago.
This matchup with Wyoming marked the first of a two-game road trip for UNLV as it prepares to head right toward a date with No. 25 San Diego State. Currently, the Aztecs sit atop the Mountain West standings.
The second and final regular season meeting between UNLV and SDSU will take place Saturday, Feb. 11 with tip-off slated for 1 p.m. This season’s Rebel team is 4-3 on the road this season.
UNLV is now 16-8 on the year with a 5-7 mark in the conference. As it stands, the program is slotted in the eighth spot in the Mountain West standings.
Fifth-year guard EJ Harkless tied a career-high 33 points, which he set earlier this season against Colorado State en route to the win for the Rebels. After being held to single-digit scoring in the first half, Harkless poured in 24 points in the second half.
Not only was Harkless the first player on the floor for either side in double-figures, he reached the 20-point threshold before anyone else joined him in the scoring ranks. Wyoming’s Hunter Maldonado reached double-figures with just over 10 and a half minutes left in regulation.
Just before that, Harkless scored eight of the Rebels’ 11 points during an 11-4 run to regain control of the game. With the team up three, he scored seven points during an 8-0 run for the team to extend the lead to 11 points.
At one point of the second half, Harkless scored or assisted on 11 points during a stretch where UNLV put in 13 points as a team.
In two games played against the Cowboys this season, Harkless racked up 61 points on 16-of-27 shooting with six made threes and 16 total rebounds.
Wyoming entered the game as the third-worst team in the conference when it came to defending the three. UNLV took advantage of that early, scoring 18 points on three-pointers to start the game.
In fact, the Rebels didn’t make their first two-point field goal until the 1:39-mark of the first half. By the final buzzer, UNLV went 10-for-27 from deep but managed to go 7-for-24 from inside the three-point arc.
Sophomore guard Keshon Gilbert was the second and only other Rebel to reach double-figure scoring, adding 10 points of his own.