RENO - Freshmen Tyrone Hanson and Brandon Fields enjoyed the best games of their young careers, giving Nevada basketball fans a look at what the future holds in the process.
Hanson and Fields scored eight points apiece in Nevada's 89-69 nonconference win over Maine Thursday night at Lawlor Events Center.
Hanson went 3-for-4 from the floor, including two 3-point field goals. He also had two assists and a steal.
"I felt really comfortable," Hanson said. "I was calm and relaxed."
Hanson atended Bridgton Academy in Maine, so obvioulsy playing Maine was exciting to him.
Fields went 4-for-4 from the floor, dished out a season-best five assists and had three steals.
"Tyrone practiced very well," Nevada coach Mark Fox said. "He was able to relax and strung together some minutes. Brandon Fields was very solid."
Hanson had a field goal in Nevada's 14-5 first-half run that gave the Pack an 11-point lead. He also drained a 3-pointer late in the first half to make it 38-24.
The high-flying Fields scored on a dunk off an alley-oop pass late in the second half. He had bounced dunk attempts off the back rim twice this season.
THAT NAGGING POLL QUESTION
Fox was asked about the discrepancy between the USA Today/ESPN poll (coaches vote) and the Associated Press poll.
Nevada has continually moved up in the ESPN poll, and didn't get dropped from the poll after winning two games in a week, including one on the road, as AP did to the Pack earlier this year.
"Is that East Coast bias?," Fox asked. "I don't know. We're getting better as a team. We're trying to get better each week."
NICE HOMECOMING
Jon Sheets, who attended Nevada Union High, enjoyed a solid homecoming performance.
The Maine point guard finished with 10 points, three assists, one block, two steals and only one turnover in 32 minutes.
When he was introduced at the start of the game, there were at least 25 fans who stood up and cheered.
Maine coach Ted Woodward said he attempts to schedule games close to the homes of his out-of-state players whenever he can.
"Jon shot the ball great (that first half)," Woodward said. "He's had a very good year. He was good last year. He's become a more mature basketball player. He's in complete charge of our team out there."
When Fox was asked about that he said he wished the Colorado schools had extended the same courtesy when Fox was trying to get a game for Nick Fazekas, who grew up in the Denver area.
NOTABLES
Fazekas, who scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, moved to No. 1 on the all-time list for free throws made when he sank his only free throw to complete a three-point play in the first half. He has 456, one better than Terrance Green ... Virginia City's Curry Lynch got into the game for the final 2:18 and scored his first four points of the season. .. Fazekas' 18 points moved him to No. 8 all-time on the WAC scoring list, surpassing Flynn Robinson. Fazekas has 2,060 and Robinson 2,049 ... Fazekas turned in his 10th double-double of the season in 12 games and 51st in his career. He has scored in double-digits in every Wolf Pack game...In an attempt to get a better match-up, Maine started 6-9 Brian Andre and Olli Ahvenniemi up front to go against Fazekas and Denis Ikovlev. Andre had four points and two rebounds, and Ahvenniemi didn't score and didn't grab a rebound.
•Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1281