Jalen Hill
67
UNLV UNLV 17-14,11-9 Mountain West
81
Winner New Mexico UNM 25-6,17-3 Mountain West
UNLV UNLV
17-14,11-9 Mountain West
67
Final
81
New Mexico UNM
25-6,17-3 Mountain West
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
UNLV UNLV 38 29 67
New Mexico UNM 40 41 81

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Shorthanded Runnin' Rebels Battle, But Fall At New Mexico In Regular-Season Finale

Julian Rishwain suffered injury in first half; Jalen Hill led UNLV with 16 points in 81-67 loss Friday night.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV men's basketball team battled, but lost its regular-season finale at New Mexico, 81-67, Friday night at The Pit.

Already down multiple players because of injury, the Runnin' Rebels suffered another big loss as Julian Rishwain left the game about seven minutes in because of an injury and did not return.

UNLV (17-14, 11-9) had four players score in double figures, led by Jalen Hill's 16 points. Bear Cherry and Jaden Henley each had 14, while Jailen Bedford contributed 10. Rishwain scored eight points.

New Mexico (25-6, 17-3) was led by Nelly Joseph's 26 points, while Donovan Dent had 20 and Tru Washington scored 19. Joseph had a double-double with 16 rebounds.

BACK AND FORTH: The game was a close one for most of the contest as there were 17 lead changes and seven ties throughout. New Mexico held a 40-38 lead at the half.

TURNING POINT: New Mexico held a one-point lead with 6:28 to go at 65-64 before it went on a 12-0 run over a three-plus minute stretch to take a 77-64 lead with 2:09 to go. The Lobos ended up closing the game outscoring UNLV 16-3.

STATS OF THE GAME: New Mexico shot 53.4% from the field (31 of 58) and outscored UNLV in points in the paint, 56-36.

QUOTABLE: "We competed like crazy. This is a tough place to come in and play and a tough place to come in and get wins. A handful of guys went 40 minutes and competed as hard as they could for 40 of those minutes. It was tough, and fatigue kicked in but that's going to happen in the situation that we were in. We had a lot of fight and made lot of great plays. We will turn our attention now and get ready for the next one." - UNLV head coach Kevin Kruger

OTHER NOTES: 
- Rishwain was coming off a career-high 26-point outing in Tuesday's win over San Diego State.
- UNLV entered the game having won 10 of the last 12 overall in the series with New Mexico, including each of the last two at The Pit and seven of 10 in Albuquerque.
- The loss snapped a three-game win streak for UNLV, who had won six of seven entering the game.
- New Mexico improved its record at home this season to 16-1 with its 11th straight win at The Pit.
- Hill was 5 of 9 from the field and 6 of 7 on free throws with four rebounds and two assists.
- Cherry shot 7 of 10 with five rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot.
- Henley was 3 of 6 on 3-pointers.
- Joseph made 13 of 19 shots and added four assists, three blocks and two steals, while Dent had six assists.
- New Mexico went to the free-throw line 11 more times than UNLV (27-16).
- New Mexico out-rebounded UNLV 35-30.
- UNLV committed 16 turnovers that New Mexico turned into 22 points.
- UNLV led by as many as seven points in the first half.
- UNLV scored just one field goal in the final six-plus minutes of the game.
- Dedan Thomas Jr. missed his fifth consecutive game because of injury.
- UNLV has made at least one 3-pointer in a NCAA-record 1,258 straight games.

NEXT FOR THE RUNNIN' REBELS: UNLV will be the No. 6 seed in next week's Mountain West Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center. The Runnin' Rebels' first round game vs. the No. 11 seed (TBD) will be on Wednesday, March 12 at 4 p.m. and will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network, ESPN Radio Las Vegas and SiriusXM.

TICKETS: Tickets to the Mountain West Tournament may be purchased at UNLVtickets.com, by calling 702-739-3267 or by visiting the Thomas & Mack Center Box Office. 


 
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