Weber State University Athletics
Thursday, December 17
Las Vegas, Nevada
8:00 p.m.
Weber State University
62
at
73
at Nevada, Las Vegas
Wildcats Give #23 Ranked UNLV A Scare Before Falling 72-63
12/18/2009 5:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
A 12-0 scoring run in the first four minutes of the second half sent the 23rd ranked UNLV Runnin' Rebels racing past the Weber State Wildcats, 72-63, Thursday night at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Down 22-9 with 9:25 left in the first half, the Wildcats put together a 23-15 scoring run, closing to within five at half time, 37-32.
OSCAR BELLFIELD got the Rebels rolling to begin the second half on a jumper. CHACE STANBACK knocked down two shots. DERRICK JASPER and MATT SHAW made three-pointers to complete the scoring run. The Wildcats answered with a 9-0 scoring run. STEVE PANOS got the ball rolling with a jumper at the 16:10 mark. KYLE BULLINGER knocked down a long three-ball and PANOS made two free throws. FRANKLIN SESSION's steal and tomahawk dunk at the 13:37 mark completed the run and the Wildcats were back with eight at 49-41.
ANTHONY MARSHALL's only basket of the game, a three-pointer, stopped the WSU run. From that point onward, the two teams jockeyed back and forth. UNLV pushed the lead back up to 14 at 66-52 with 4:55 left on the fourth three-pointer of the evening by MATT SHAW.
The Wildcats never did hang their heads as they fought back to within eight twice in the final 4:55 and got it to seven (70-63) with 32 seconds left on a three-pointer by DAMIAN LILLARD.
“I was really happy with the way we competed and stayed the course,” said WSU head coach Randy Rahe. “We obviously hurt ourselves at the free throw line. If you make a couple more, especially in the one-and-one situations, then you keep pressure on them to score. This was a good experience for our players to face a hostile crowd on the road and for the most part we kept our composure and took good care the ball.”
BULLINGER led the Wildcats with a season high 21 points, hitting 8-13 from the field and 5-8 from the three-point line in 33 minutes. STEVE PANOS was the only other Wildcat in double figures with 11. The UNLV defense paid special attention to DAMIAN LILLARD, holding him to just eight points. That broke a string of 10 straight double figure scoring games by LILLARD dating back to the last game of the 2008-09 season at San Diego State. UNLV was led by MATT SHAW who scored 16, including a 4-6 shooting performance from the three-point line. CHACE STANBACK had 15 and OSCAR BELLFIELD, 10.
Weber State is now 5-5 overall while the Rebels move to 9-1. Next up for the Wildcats is the Basketball Travelers Tournament with Utah State serving as the host school next week in Logan. All four teams in the field will play three games in three nights. WSU begins on Monday, December 21 facing Cal State Fullerton at 5:30, followed by a 5:30 tipoff vs. Morehead State on Tuesday, December 22 and an 8:00 tipoff on Wednesday, December 23 against Utah State. USU defeated Weber State, 66-60, in Ogden in the season opener for both teams back on November 13.
Down 22-9 with 9:25 left in the first half, the Wildcats put together a 23-15 scoring run, closing to within five at half time, 37-32.
OSCAR BELLFIELD got the Rebels rolling to begin the second half on a jumper. CHACE STANBACK knocked down two shots. DERRICK JASPER and MATT SHAW made three-pointers to complete the scoring run. The Wildcats answered with a 9-0 scoring run. STEVE PANOS got the ball rolling with a jumper at the 16:10 mark. KYLE BULLINGER knocked down a long three-ball and PANOS made two free throws. FRANKLIN SESSION's steal and tomahawk dunk at the 13:37 mark completed the run and the Wildcats were back with eight at 49-41.
ANTHONY MARSHALL's only basket of the game, a three-pointer, stopped the WSU run. From that point onward, the two teams jockeyed back and forth. UNLV pushed the lead back up to 14 at 66-52 with 4:55 left on the fourth three-pointer of the evening by MATT SHAW.
The Wildcats never did hang their heads as they fought back to within eight twice in the final 4:55 and got it to seven (70-63) with 32 seconds left on a three-pointer by DAMIAN LILLARD.
“I was really happy with the way we competed and stayed the course,” said WSU head coach Randy Rahe. “We obviously hurt ourselves at the free throw line. If you make a couple more, especially in the one-and-one situations, then you keep pressure on them to score. This was a good experience for our players to face a hostile crowd on the road and for the most part we kept our composure and took good care the ball.”
BULLINGER led the Wildcats with a season high 21 points, hitting 8-13 from the field and 5-8 from the three-point line in 33 minutes. STEVE PANOS was the only other Wildcat in double figures with 11. The UNLV defense paid special attention to DAMIAN LILLARD, holding him to just eight points. That broke a string of 10 straight double figure scoring games by LILLARD dating back to the last game of the 2008-09 season at San Diego State. UNLV was led by MATT SHAW who scored 16, including a 4-6 shooting performance from the three-point line. CHACE STANBACK had 15 and OSCAR BELLFIELD, 10.
Weber State is now 5-5 overall while the Rebels move to 9-1. Next up for the Wildcats is the Basketball Travelers Tournament with Utah State serving as the host school next week in Logan. All four teams in the field will play three games in three nights. WSU begins on Monday, December 21 facing Cal State Fullerton at 5:30, followed by a 5:30 tipoff vs. Morehead State on Tuesday, December 22 and an 8:00 tipoff on Wednesday, December 23 against Utah State. USU defeated Weber State, 66-60, in Ogden in the season opener for both teams back on November 13.
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