Wolf Pack clinches share of WAC title

FRESNO, Calif. - For the second straight season, Nevada has earned a share of the Western Athletic Conference regular-season championship.

The Wolf Pack got 28 points from Nick Fazekas, who may have suffered a broken nose late in the game, and 17 more from Mo Charlo to knock off Fresno State 76-63 Saturday night at Save Mart Center, clinching no worse than a tie for the title.

Fazekas scored his 1,000th career point with two free throws with 6:03 left in the game. He added four more points before suffering his injury, and now stands at 1,004. He was unable to talk with reporters after the game.

Nevada, ranked 25th improved to 22-5 overall and 14-2 in conference play, 7-0 in road WAC games. Fresno State dropped to 8-8 in conference and 14-12 overall.

"I'm extremely proud of this team; really proud of the kids," Nevada coach Mark Fox said. "I coach some extremely tough kids. They accomplished something nobody thought they would. We got a win on the road and we clinched the No. 1 seed in the WAC tournament.

"We've had our share of adversity. We lost Marcelus Kemp to a knee injury in the summer and lost Lyndale Burleson when he was ruled a partial qualifier. We played through it."

The win should have been cause for celebration, and senior co-captain Kevinn Pinkney admitted there was a brief one.

"We had a little celebration," senior co-captain Kevinn Pinkney. "At the same time, we want to win the title outright."

"It feels good (to clinch a tie)," Charlo said. "We have two games left. We don't want to share the title."

The game was hard-fought throughout. Nevada led by seven twice in the first half and Fresno State had two five-point leads in the opening 20 minutes.

The second half, especially the last 13-plus minutes, belonged to Nevada. The Pack shot 55.6 from the floor and held Fresno State to 23.8 from the field.

Leading 48-47, Nevada unleashed a 20-4 barrage to take a 68-51 lead with 4:12 left in the game. Charlo had a big role in the surge, scoring eight in that span. He scored 15 of his 17 in the second half.

"The coaches told me I needed to get aggressive," Charlo said. "I was getting the ball in good spots. I didn't want to settle for jump shots. I wanted to be a slasher, and that's what I did."

"You don't expect it," Fresno State coach Ray Lopes said, referring to Charlo's output. "He's a good basketball player. We didn't let that happen the first time."

Chris Berry had all four of the Bulldogs' points during that span. His field goal with 9:14 left broke an eight-plus minute drought without a field goal.

"It was the moment of truth, and the kids responded," Fox said. "Defensively we were able to put together some stops, and were able to separate ourselves."

Lopes said lack of defense and poor outside shooting in the second half contributed to Nevada'ôs big run.

"We didn't do a good job of getting stops defensively," he said. "Our defense just wasn't good enough. We've got to defend whether we play zone or man, it doesn't matter.

"It's hard to win basketball games when you shoot like that. We weren't executing really well offensively."

The tempo, at least for much of the first half, belonged to the Bulldogs. And, as they did at Lawlor Events Center last month, played tight defense on the Wolf Pack.

It took six straight points and two blocked shots by Fazekas in the last 3 1/2 minutes for Nevada to grab a 37-36 lead at halftime. Fazekas was 6 for 11 from the floor and a perfect 4 for 4 from the charity stripe for 18 points.

"Nick is a great player," Fox said. "He's become much more of a complete player than he was two weeks ago. He keeps taking steps forward."

Unfortunately, Nevada got very little offense from anybody else. Conversely, Fresno State had much more balance. Ja'Vance Coleman led the way with 11 of his team-high 18 points.

Nevada built up leads of 15-8 and 18-11 in the first seven-plus minutes, but a 19-7 Fresno State surge enabled the Bulldogs to grab a 30-25 lead with 7:20 left in the half. Donovan Morris, who scored 14 in the first meeting, had all nine of his first-half points in that span.

Baskets by Seth Taylor, Fazekas and two free throws by Kyle Shiloh gave the Pack a 31-30 lead. Fresno State rebounded with six straight of its own for a 36-31 lead with 3:26 left before the Pack embarked on its half-ending 6-0 run to take the one-point halftime lead.

Nevada started fast in the second half, outscoring Fresno State 10-2 in the first three-plus minutes of the second half. Five different players contributed during that run. Fresno State went on an 8-1 run, all on free throws, to make it 48-47, setting the stage for Nevada's big outburst.

Fazekas was injured in the final three minutes when Coleman hit a three-pointer from the corner. Fazekas was behind Mustafa Al-Sayyad and caught an elbow. He missed the final 2:15 of the contest.

WOMEN

Fresno State 65, Nevada 47

The Bulldogs, thanks to a 56 percent effort from the floorÝ in the first half, opened up a 30-point first-half lead en route to their fourth win in six attempts since the suspension of head coach Stacy Johnson-Klein.

The loss dropped Nevada to 7-19 overall and 3-13 in WAC play. Fresno State improved to 8-8 in WAC play and 17-9 overall.

Nevada trailed just 14-11 with 11:19 left in the first half, but Fresno State went on a 26-3 run to end the half.

The Bulldogs did it with some impressive man-to-man defense, as Nevada went five possessions without a shot, and scored only three minutes in the last 8:04 of the half. Amy Parrish (16 points) led a 12-0 run with three lay-ups to extend the lead to 26-11. The teams traded baskets over the next two minutes, and the Bulldogs scored 14 straight to make it 44-14. Mirenda Swearingen (14 points) had three lay-ups in that surge.

Fresno State maintained a healthy lead throughout most of the second half. Nevada put together a 13-2 run in a four-minute stretch to get the deficit down to 62-45 with 3:31 left. Jessica Presslar scored five of her seven in that span.

Meghan McGuire led Nevada with 17 points.

n Darrell Moody can be reached at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling 881-1281