A 'Tech' book effort for Nevada

RUSTON, La. - Marcelus Kemp has made some big shots this year for Nevada, but none bigger than the 3-pointer he made Thursday night.

With Nevada leading 51-47 with about 4 1/2 minutes left and the shot clock running down, Kyle Shiloh drove past halfcourt and whipped a pass out to Kemp, who drained the 20-footer to increase Nevada's lead to 54-47.

A defensive stop or miss and Louisiana Tech would have had a chance to cut the Pack's lead down to one on the next possession.

Instead, Nevada had a seven-point lead and went on, thanks to 16 points by Kemp and 23 by Nick Fazekas, to outlast the conference-leading Bulldogs 65-53 before a partisan crowd of 4,683 at the Thomas Assembly Center.

Nevada improved to 16-5 and 6-3 in Western Athletic Conference play, and thanks to New Mexico State's upset of Utah State, moved into a second-place tie. Tech dropped to 7-2 in conference and 14-8 overall.

"I'm not afraid to shoot you know that," Kemp said. "I knew I was going to shoot it and make it. It took the wind off their chests. It was a big shot for us.

"It was a big win for us. I'm glad we were able to get a win."

And, it was Kemp's only field goal in the second half, though he did knock down four straight free throws in the final 79 seconds when the Bulldogs were forced to foul in an effort to get the ball back.

"It was a big one," Fox said. "I challenged him one of those timeouts in the first half. I didn't think he was being aggressive enough.

"Road wins are important in February. We beat a very good basketball team. They're a good defensive team and a good basketball team in a lot of ways. It was one of our better (defensive) efforts. We gave them two transition layups in the first half and a couple in the second. Overall, we played good defense."

That and rebounding. Nevada outrebounded Louisiana Tech 43-39. It was only the sixth time that the Bulldogs have been beaten on the boards. It was also the sixth straight time Nevada has beaten Louisiana Tech.

"This is the sixth time in a row (we've lost to them)," Louisiana Tech coach Keith Richard said. "They kind of have our number. They're about 50 and 10 in the last couple of years (actually 41-12), so they have a lot of people's numbers.

"I'm disappointed we lost, but I'm not upset with my kids at all . We are who we are. Nevada made plays at the right time. It was a big momentum swing. We needed a couple of plays like that to go our way. They made the big plays at the right time."

Twice more Louisiana Tech cut Nevada's lead to five, 54-49 and 56-51, but each time Nevada met the challenge with either a big bucket or a big defensive play.

With the Bulldogs really trying to get the ball into Paul Millsap's hands (16 points, 11 rebounds), the Pack sent weakside help to assist Fazekas or Chad Bell; whoever was on Millsap at the time.

With a 57-51 lead, Shiloh stole a pass intended for Millsap inside. Just a couple of possessions later, Corey Dean tried to drive the baseline, but Nevada's defense forced him too far under the basket. He tried to pass out to the middle, but Mo Charlo picked off the pass. Nevada got the ball to Fazekas, who was fouled and calmly hit two free throws to make it 61-51 with 52.2 left.

"As I said, I hoped we could contain Millsap," Fox said. "He's an NBA player playing in college. We were actually spending more time defending a couple of their shooters because we didn't think we could defend Millsap."

Fazekas scored 17 second half points, connecting on 6-for-8 from the field in the final 20 minutes, including an uncontested slam with 14 seconds remaining that brought boos from the discouraged Tech fans.

It was a far cry from the first half when he went 2-for-8 from the field, and took a few shots he wished he hadn't. He admitted he was frustrated.

"They tried to surround me," Fazekas said. "They put a lot of guys around me. I felt like my hook was barely missing. I don't feel like it's been there the last three or four games."

"They were doubling," Fox said. "That was obvious. He's a clever player. He finds ways to make baskets."

Despite a sub-par first 20 minutes for Fazekas, Nevada still led most of the time even though no more than four points ever separated the teams. Nevada had two four-point leads, 4-0 and 13-9.

Louisiana Tech led 9-6 with 15:17 left and didn't grab the lead again until back-to-back buckets by Drew Washington and Trey McDowell gave the Bulldogs a 19-18 lead.Three straight Pack buckets by Kemp sandwiched around a Millsap basket enabled the Pack to grab a 24-21 lead. A slam by Millsap and a dunk by Washington gave Tech a 25-24 edge.

Momentum was on Tech's side, but Nevada re-took the lead for good when Ramon Sessions hit his only basket of the half with 1.8 left to make it 26-25.

"We didn't finish the first half really well," Fox said. "It gave us some confidence."

"I don't know what impact it had," Richard said. "It was something we didn't want to happen. He made a nice play."

It was bigger than Richard thought, considering the Bulldogs never got closer than four points the remainder of the game.

It was a miracle that Nevada led. The Pack shot 33 percent in the half, and it was a combination of good defense by the Bulldogs and poor shooting by Nevada.

Nevada opened the second half with seven straight points by Fazekas en route to a 13-2 surge and a 39-27 lead.

"It was nice to play with the lead," Fox said. "It was a significant part of the game establishing a lead like that. On the road, it's hard to play from behind."

"We didn't get the stops and we didn't score," Richard said. "That little spurt hurt. We're not a very good offensive team."

A bucket by Millsap, who was held to almost five points and a rebound below his season averages, a layup by McDowell and a trey by McDowell cut the lead to 41-36. A bucket by Fazekas from the right baseline and a putback by Chad Bell stretched the Pack's lead to nine.

Fazekas made another big play with 6:11 left. Michael Wilds missed a shot that would have trimmed Nevada's lead to one, but Fazekas scored to make it 51-45.

Almost two minutes later, Kemp nailed his trey and the Bulldogs were done. Stick a fork in them.

"Oh definitely, this was a big game," Fazekas said. "We played a good defensive game. We emphasized rebounding tonight. For a team that's been outrebounding teams by eight a game, this was big."