Sessions impressive for Pack

RENO - Ramon Sessions continues to impress opposing coaches.

Bob Thomason, Pacific head coach, praised Nevada's freshman point guard after he scored 17 points, dished out eight assists and only had two turnovers in his 35-minute stint in Saturday's 72-69 loss to Pacific at Lawlor Events Center.

"He's a sensational player," Thomason said after the game. "He does a nice job of running the team."

Sessions, who scored 10 first-half points and gave Nevada a 36-34 halftime lead with a nice pull-up jump shot, hit a couple of big buckets to spark Nevada's second-half comeback which fell just short.

Sessions hit a short bank shot to cut Pacific's lead to 60-57 with 7:42 left, and later scooped up a loose ball and scored in the lane to tie the game at 69 with 1:03 remaining. That was the last point for the Wolf Pack, who had its 18-game home winning streak snapped.

SCOREBOARD WOES

The game was played without the big overhead scoreboard and the shot clocks above the basket. School officials installed 30-second clocks in each corner and took out some courtside seats to install a portable scoreboard.

"This is the first time I can remember it happening here," said Rory Hickock, assistant athletic director. "Jason (Houston, assistant sports information director) went to turn everything on and it didn't work."

Houston said he remembers a chalkboard being used at a game once before. There was some disagreement whether that game was at Lawlor or the old Reno Coliseum.

This was the second straight week where Nevada officials had to hustle to get Lawlor ready for the game.

Last week it was Nevada's mid-year graduation that pushed the UNLV game to 8:05 p.m., an hour later than normal. On Friday night, Lawlor hosted a concert featuring Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich.

"We've been at it since 2:30 this morning," said Joe Kerr, the general manager of Lawlor Events Center. Arena workers were still doing some late mop-up 90 minutes prior to the game.

FOREIGN FLAVOR

Pacific has four players in its starting lineup that have roots outside the United States.

Forwards Jasko Korajkic and Christian Maraker are both from Sweden, center Guillaume Yango is from Paris and guard Marko Mihailovic was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia but moved to the United States when he was still an infant.

Thomason took a team to Sweden, and Maraker and Korajkic played against the Tigers, and he was able to persuade the duo to come overseas to play for him. Maraker injured his wrist three games into his freshman season, and used that as a red shirt year. He's averaged 11.3 and 12.6 points per game the last two seasons. Korajkic has averaged 6.0 and 4.8 the past two seasons. Maraker has come on strong this year, averaging 15 points a game, and Korajkic is averaging a career-best 10.8.

STRONG UP FRONT

Kevinn Pinkney and Nick Fazekas have been outstanding through the first six games of the season. The duo have combined for 236 of 502 points (46 percent) and accounted for 34.2 percent of the teams rebounds.

OKESON ON HAND

Todd Okeson, Nevada's starting point guard last season, attended the game.

ON TAP

Nevada will host the Dodge Holiday Classic Friday and Saturday. Eastern Illinois plays Idaho State at 5 p.m. and Nevada hosts Florida Atlantic at 7:05.

Florida Atlantic is coached by Sidney Green, former UNLV standout.

Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1281.