LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV men's basketball team suffered a 102-93 loss to Montana Tuesday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The Runnin' Rebels (1-2) had five players score in double figures, led by
Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn's 26 points.
Kimani Hamilton had 16, while
Naas Cunningham scored 13,
Issac Williamson added 11 and
Ladji Dembele had 10.
Montana (3-1) also had five players score 10 or more points, led by Money Williams' game-high 30. Te'Jon Sawyer added 18, Kenyon Aguino scored 15, Tyler Thompson added 11 and Tyler Isaak had 10.
STAT OF THE GAME: The Grizzlies shot 58.6% from the field in the second half (17 of 29), finishing the game at 55.4% (36 of 65).
TURNING POINT: After seven lead changes and five ties in the first half, Montana held a 47-45 lead at the break. The Grizzlies started the second half on a 10-0 run to take a 57-45 lead with 16 minutes to go. UNLV quickly cut it to five, but a 17-7 Montana spurt gave it a 15-point lead and control of the game at 74-59 with just under 11 minutes to play. UNLV would only get as close as nine the rest of the way.
QUOTABLE: "When you score 93 points you've got to win the game. I was really disappointed with what we did defensively. We were trying different things. We'll get better. That's our only option. It's a long season and we have a lot of games left. We have to get better all the way throughout November. Obviously, there were some things today we didn't get better at from Saturday, so we have to course-correct that. But we will continue to improve so that when we get to Mountain West play in mid-December, we are playing our best basketball at that point in the season."
OTHER NOTES:
- Williamson played in his first game after being sidelined with an injury. UNLV was still without Mason Abittan, Myles Che and Emmanuel Stephen because of injuries.
- UNLV shot 50.7% from the field for the game (35 of 69).
- UNLV had 21 assists on 35 made field goals (60%).
- Montana shot 37.5% on 3-pointers, while UNLV managed just 23.1% from 3-point range.
- Montana made 88.9% of its free throws (24 of 27), while UNLV shot just 63.0% from the charity stripe (17 of 27).
- Montana out-rebounded UNLV 38-31.
- UNLV committed just 10 turnovers, but Montana turned those into 21 points (compared to the Grizzlies' 13 turnovers with UNLV converting those into 13 points).
- Sawyer led Montana in rebounds with nine, while Tyrin Jones had a team-high seven (with nine points) for the Runnin' Rebels.
- Williams was 12 of 23 from the field with a game-high eight assists.
- Gibbs-Lawhorn had six assists with just one turnover.
- UNLV led in fast-break points 24-15 and bench scoring 37-18.
- UNLV has made at least one 3-pointer in a NCAA-record 1,263 straight games.
NEXT FOR THE RUNNIN' REBELS: UNLV will play its first road game of the season at Memphis on Sunday, Nov. 16. The 2 p.m. PT game will be televised nationally on ESPN with the radio broadcast available on ESPN Radio 1100 AM in Las Vegas.
