Nevada basketball: New Mexico edges Nevada, 71-67, in Wolf Pack’s home finale

Nevada showed much more fight than it did the last time time out, but the Wolf Pack was facing the conference’s top team — and one of the best players — and came up a bit short in the home finale.

It didn’t help that New Mexico’s standout player was on fire New Mexico edged Nevada, 71-67, in front of 7,881 fans at Lawlor Events Center on Tuesday night.

Nevada had two players score 15 points each, Kobe Sanders and Nick Davidson, and Tyler Rolison had 12 as the Wolf Pack dropped to 16-14 overall, 8-11 in the Mountain West. Xavier DuSell had nine points as he made two 3-pointers and needs one more to tie the all-time Mountain West record for made 3-pointers.

Donovan Dent was on fire for New Mexico as he poured in 32 points, on 12-of-18 shooting from the field. He was the only Lobos player in double figures. Nelly Junior Joseph had nine points and 14 rebounds as they improved to 24-6 overall, 16-3 in the Mountain West.

New Mexico clinched at least a share of the Mountain West regular-season title and will be the No. 1 seed for next weeks tournament in Las Vegas (March 12-15).

Nevada will be the No. 7 seed for the tournament and play on Wednesday, March 12 against either Fresno State or Air Force.

DuSell said Dent is a good player and the Wolf Pack was trying to make him pass the ball more.

“He got loose early and got some momentum early,” DuSell said. “If we see him in the tournament, we have to do a better job of not letting him get hot early.”

New Mexico beat Nevada, 71-67, on Tuesday in the Pack final home game.

New Mexico beat Nevada, 71-67, on Tuesday night in the final home game of the season for the Wolf Pack.

Key to the game

Nevada was 13-of-20 from the free throw line, but New Mexico was not much better, converting 16-of-22.

But Nevada was just 5-of-10 from the stripe in the second half. Sanders missed the front end of one-and-one’s twice in the final three minutes.

The Lobos held a slight advantage in rebounding, 37-34, a stat that doomed the Wolf Pack in its loss at UNLV last Friday.

Nevada outscored the Lobos, 30-20 in the paint.

The Wolf Pack was 4-of-29 from 3-point range while the Lobos were 9-of-27.

The Seniors

Nevada has six seniors, five of whom were honored before the game: Tre Coleman, KJ Hymes, Kobe Sanders, Xavier DuSell and Brandon Love. Daniel Foster is also a senior, but he was honored at last season’s senior night, before deciding to return to the Pack.

“We appreciate from a coaching standpoint, all they have done for us,” Nevada coach Steve Alford said. “On the court. Off the court. In the community. They have been terrific and represented us the way we want to be represented. We didn’t get as many wins as we would have like this year, but hopefully something is still left in the tank.”

First half

New Mexico led, 41-38 at the break as Dent had 20 points in the first half.

Nevada hit 2-of-10 from 3-point range in the first half, while New Mexico was 7-of-14 from the arc.

The Wolf Pack made 8-of-10 free throws, to 6-of-9 for the Lobos.

Up Next

Nevada concludes the regular season at San Diego State. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Aztecs played at UNLV later Tuesday night.

Nevada’s Remaining Schedule

• March 8, Nevada at San Diego State, 7:30 p.m. (TV: FS1, Radio: 95.5 FM)
• March 12-15 Mountain West Conference men’s tournament, at Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas.

Mountain West Schedule

Friday’s games: Colorado State at Boise State; UNLV at New Mexico.

Saturday’s games: Nevada at San Diego State; Air Force at Utah State; Fresno State at San Jose State.