RENO - The University of Nevada capped off a successful basketball weekend by sweeping the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week awards.
Nick Fazekas enjoyed back-to-back 27-point games against University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and Georgia State to lead the men's team to the championship in the Jim Thorpe Classic.
Fazekas, a 6-foot-11 sophomore from Arvada, Colo., hit 23 of 33 from the floor, including 3-for-4 from beyond the three-point arc. He also averaged nine rebounds in the tourney. Against Colorado Springs, he outscored the entire Mountain Lion team in the first half, 21-12. In the title win over Georgia State, Fazekas went 9-for-10 from the floor to lead the Wolf Pack to a 14-point lead at the intermission.
Nevada will be on the road for big games against Georgia on Friday and Kansas on Monday before coming home to face in-state rival UNLV at 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 4. The start time is late because of Nevada's mid-year graduation.
Amber Young, one of two seniors on the Nevada women's team, was named the MVP of the Nugget Classic after leading the Wolf Pack to wins over Cal-State Fullerton and the University of Colorado.
Young scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the title victory over Colorado, a team that finished third in the Big 12 last season. The 5-foot-8 Young, from Scottsdale, Ariz. led all rebounders with nine against Cal-State Fullerton . She also dished out nine assists in the two victories.
Young said it was probably the best back-to-back games she's had since entering Nevada, and she gave a lot of credit to her teammates.
"We work so well together," she said. "When I got some good looks, I was able to hit them."
Coach Kim Gervasoni said Young does a lot of things that never show up on a stat sheet. She is probably the Wolf Pack's best defender, and she just plays a very solid floor game.
The women take to the road for games against BYU and the Sun Devil Classic. Nevada hosts San Diego State on Dec. 7 and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 16. After that, the women have a five-game road trip and won't play at home again until Jan. 6 against Louisiana Tech.
Darrell Moody can be reached at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1281