LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Foul woes limited Nevada's Demarshay Johnson to only 15 minutes Saturday night against New Mexico State, but the Pack got their money's worth.
Johnson scored a career-best 12 points and pulled down six rebounds before fouling out to help the Wolf Pack to a 90-81 win at Pan American Center.
The six rebounds was second to Nick Fazekas' eight and was one shy of Johnson's best of seven.
"Every day I try to be prepared," Johnson said. "I know my role. I try to give them energy on the offensive glass and that's what I did the first half."
"Demarshay played well," teammate Nick Fazekas said. "He got us going. His rebounding helped us out."
CLASSLESS STUDENT CROWD
In my three years of covering Nevada basketball, the two worst crowds I've seen were at UTEP and now New Mexico State.
The UTEP fans last year were extremely vulgar, and the student section at NMSU did its best to match them.
Each time Fazekas made a shot, the section, in sing-song style, said "Nice shot a---hole."
Reggie Theus, New Mexico State's first-year head coach, may not have heard exactly what was being shouted at Fazekas, but he liked the support from the crowd of more than 8,000.
"The fans were great, though they weren't as strong in numbers," he said. "It could have been bigger. They were right there with us."
PERCENTAGES UP
Simply put, New Mexico State plays a risk-reward defense. The Aggies put so much pressure on a team that they often get burned for easy baskets.
Utah State shot 61 percent on Thursday night, and Nevada followed that up with a 56 percent effort Saturday night.
"We have to play this way," Theus said. "We're small and quick. We have guys with big hearts that play hard. We've had pretty good success."
Both Utah State and Nevada had size advantage over the Aggies, so once you get past the pressure, teams can take advantage of their height and strength.
NELSON HAS HUGE GAME
Tyrone Nelson showed why he is a two-time WAC Player of the Week honoree.
The 6-9 center-forward scored 22 points and grabbed six rebounds. He was 8-for-15 from the floor, and most of the time made life miserable for Nick Fazekas.
"I was able to take the defense off the dribble a lot," Nelson said. "I took my time tonight and let the game come to me."
Fazekas and other Pack players seemed to fall for his head and ball fakes quite a bit. Fazekas' length did bother Nelson at times, forcing him to shoot the ball higher than he wanted.
FACTS & FIGURES
Former New Mexico State coach Lou Henson, who stepped down for health reasons, was in attendance last night... Marcelus Kemp has scored four straight games in double figures - 11, 21, 16 and 19. In the last two games, he has hit critical baskets in game-winning surges ... The starting lineup of Kemp, Fazekas, Ramon Sessions and Kyle Shiloh has produced a 4-0 record ... Nevada is 10-4 in games decided by less than 10 points ... Fazekas has 21 double-digit scoring games and he has eclipsed the 30-point mark three times this year and six times in his career ... New Mexico State's defense produced nine steals, two more than its season average ... Midway through the first half, Shiloh's shoe came off and he was called for a traveling violation. Go figure ... The loss was NMSU's first at home in conference play ... Nevada's 17 wins is the most in the WAC, one better than Utah State's 16 ... Nevada was 7-for-16 from 3-point range compared to 4-for-14 for the Aggies ... Nevada won the rebound battle 29-28 ... Nevada had 30 points in the paint and scored 18 points off 11 NMSU turnovers. The Pack also had 11 second-chance points thanks to Johnson and Fazekas ... Theus felt that Trevor Lawrence gave his team a lift with six points in eight minutes, but criticized him for not grabbing a single rebound in that time.