DALLAS - Stylish wins were the norm much of last year for the University of Nevada. Those have given way to inartistic struggles.
Nevada built up a 16-point lead six minutes into the second half, but needed two free throws each by Ramon Sessions, Mo Charlo and Kevinn Pinkney in the final 73 seconds to hold off a late SMU rally to grab a 73-66 triumph before a crowd of 3,121 Saturday night at Moody Coliseum.
It was the first win ever for Nevada at SMU since it joined the Western Athletic Conference and stretched its winning streak to seven straight entering Wednesday night's showdown with UTEP at Lawlor Events Center. Nevada, 11-3 overall, leads the conference at 4-0 and already has half as many road wins as it did last year in conference play when it went 4-5.
"Every game we're going to win is going to be a grind-it-out game," Nevada coach Mark Fox said. "That's how this team is going to be successful. I'm very pleased with 4-0. It's a real challenge to win on the road."
"It's not going to be easy (on the road)," Nevada sophomore Nick Fazekas said. "Last year was hard. We didn't win many on the road."
Again, defense and rebounding played a big role in the victory.
SMU did shoot 43 percent, which is the first time in the last seven games an opponent has eclipsed the 40 percent mark, but Nevada's Charlo and Kyle Shiloh hounded the Mustangs' Bryan Hopkins into a 5-for-16 effort from the floor, including 3-for-10 beyond the three-point arc.
"In the first half our defense was good," Fox said. "We got the lead and didn't defend with the tenacity necessary. Those kids (Charlo and Shiloh) did an outstanding job. Mo did a lot of things that won't show up in the box score."
"My hat's off to them," Pinkney said. "That was the emphasis, to stop him, if we were going to have a chance to win the game. It was excellent defense."
Nevada, for the seventh straight time, outrebounded its opponent. The Wolf Pack enjoyed a 38-22 edge, as Pinkney pulled down 13 rebounds and Nick Fazekas added seven.
"Kevin was terrific on the boards," Fox said. "He's probably playing the best basketball of his career. He's doing whatever we need him to do. There are nights that he scored, nights that he's rebounded and nights that he's played defense."
SMU coach Jimmy Tubbs felt the game was decided under the glass.
"Before the game we talked about rebounding and how we thought it was going to be a big key, and that was the story," Tubbs said. "That sums it up right there. That tells me they were the tougher team tonight."
Despite dominating on the glass, Nevada nearly gave away all of its big lead. Trailing 60-47 with 9:44 left, SMU scored six straight points, to slice the lead to 60-53 with 8:06 remaining. Justin Isham scored on a three-point play to spark the surge.
The teams battled on even terms until SMU got a lean-in shot by Isham and two inside buckets from Eric Castro (13 points) to cut Nevada's lead to 65-62 with 1:58 left. Sessions (14 points), who had an ugly second-half stretch which saw him turn the ball over once and force up some bad shots, redeemed himself when he hit from the left side to make it 67-62. Castro scored one from the line, but Sessions boosted the lead back to six with two foul shots.
Hopkins, who had 14 of his 16 points in the second half to start the Mustangs' comeback, bounced the ball off his foot with 1:08 left. Sessions misfired and Charlo got the rebound and was fouled by Roberts. His two shots made it 71-63 with 41 seconds left.
Game over.
"We turned the ball over (in the second half)," Fazekas said. "We did turn it around. It's not going to be easy. Anytime you can sweep a road trip, that's good. You're supposed to split on the road. It gives us a little cushion."
A cushion is something Nevada didn't have until late in the first half. SMU cut the lead to 26-25 on a three-pointer by Devon Pearson with 6:02 left, but Nevada closed the half with a 13-4 run to build a 39-29 lead at the half.
All the damage was done in that run with Patrick Simpson sitting out after picking up his third foul. That made it much easier for Nevada to go inside, and the Wolf Pack did just that.
"That was big," Pinkney said. "They have two good posts (Castro and Simpson). We wanted to keep attacking (the basket). He (Castro) didn't want to foul because he would be out of the game."
All five of Nevada's field goals to end the half were in the key. Fazekas (20 points, 7 rebounds) converted a three-point play after an SMU turnover. After Hopkins was called for a five-second violation, Pinkney tossed down a hook. Pearson retaliated to make it 31-27, but Shiloh scored on a driving layup and Pinkney scored on a dunk to get the lead to 35-27. Ike Ofoegbu scored on a dunk for SMU, but Fazekas scored on a short bank shot and Sessions made a layup to complete the barrage.
The teams played on even terms early in the second half, but an 11-5 surge led by Charlo's two baskets and a three from Seth Taylor built the lead to 16.
Darrell Moody can be reached at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or call 881-1281.