LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - Keshon Gilbert scored a career-high 25 points and EJ Harkless added 20 as the UNLV men's basketball team (10-0) defeated Washington State 74-70 Saturday afternoon in the Las Vegas Clash at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The Runnin' Rebels are off to their best start to a season since the 1990-91 team won their first 34 games.

Gilbert was 10 of 15 from the field, including 2 of 5 on 3-pointers, while collecting a team-high five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Harkless was 7 of 18 from the field.

The Cougars (4-5) had three players score in double figures, led by TJ Bamba's 20 points on 7 of 11 shooting, including 4 of 6 from long distance. Mouhamed Gueye added a game-high eight rebounds.

MASSIVE RUN: UNLV started the game slow offensively as Washington State built a nine-point lead at 11-2. With the Cougars leading 13-4, UNLV then went on an 18-0 run over four minutes with five different Runnin' Rebels scoring during the stretch to give themselves a 22-13 lead.

CLOSE FINISH: UNLV led 33-30 at the half and although it built a 12-point advantage with seven minutes to go in the game, Washington State cut it to three points a couple of times late.

DEFENSE AGAIN: As the Runnin' Rebels have shown all season, defense was their calling card again on Saturday. UNLV forced Washington State into 22 turnovers, marking the seventh time this season that a UNLV opponent committed at least 20 miscues. UNLV came into the game ranked No. 2 in the country in forced turnovers. The Runnin' Rebels also recorded 12 steals, which is a category that they rank in the nation's top 10 in. It marked the sixth time that they have tallied at least 10 swipes in a game.

QUOTABLE: "I thought it was a great fight by our guys. I felt like we played a lot of that game at Wazzu's pace and their temperament, but I thought we did a good job of creating enough momentum swings in our direction to where we had favor in the way the game was going. It was a little more up and down which our guys do better at. When the game is moving, we are able to get turnovers, run and get good offensive looks that way. Washington State shot the ball really well and they do a really good job of finding the open guy and when you've got that many that can make plays and shoot it and make some of the shots they did today, that's what's probably going to happen. We just have to continue to get better in those situations and watch the film to see how a step here or a step there could make our life a lot easier or potentially a lot harder." - UNLV head coach Kevin Kruger.

OTHER NOTES:
- UNLV only committed seven turnovers.
- WSU shot 61.1% from the field in the first half, finishing the game at 54.2%.
- The Cougars made 13 3-pointers, shooting 56.5% for the game from long distance.
- UNLV finished the game at 50.9% from the field.
- Washington State outrebounded UNLV 33-20.
- UNLV shot twice as many free throws as Washington State did (16-8).
- UNLV scored 31 points off of turnovers and 21 points on fastbreaks.
- UNLV's bench outscored Washington State's 19-7.
- It was just the second all-time meeting in men's basketball between the two schools. UNLV now leads the series 2-0 and is 63-64 all-time vs. teams that make up the Pac-12.
- UNLV has made at least one 3-pointer in a NCAA-record 1,171 straight games.

NEXT FOR THE RUNNIN' REBELS: UNLV will have a week off before hosting San Francisco in its next game at the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at UNLVtickets.com.