Nevada has a 'Fields' day against N.M. State

RENO - Brandon Fields got the silent treatment from Nevada basketball coach Mark Fox this week after going scoreless last weekend against Southern Illinois.

"I've been very hard on him," Fox admitted. "He had a long week. I'm not sure I spoke to him all week until yesterday. I expect him to play better than he's been playing."

Fields responded, and his play on Thursday spoke volumes about his resiliency.

Fields scored a career-high 29 points and pulled down a career-best nine rebounds, and Marcelus Kemp added 27 points to spark the Wolf Pack to a 98-85 win over New Mexico State at Lawlor Events Center.

It was the most points Nevada has scored against a Division I opponent since it beat Boise State 95-81. Earlier this year, Nevada scored 104 against Division II Cal-State Stanislaus.

The win was critical for two reasons. It gave Nevada a sweep of the season series and kept the Wolf Pack, 18-10 overall and 10-4 in conference, a game behind Boise State, which edged San Jose State 74-68 to move to 11-3.

"I was more focused coming into the game," Fields said. "Coach was really on me all week in practice.

"I was more aggressive rebounding the ball, and when I rebound the points come to me."

Fields, who was 9-for-11 from the floor and 10-for-11 at the line, scored in a myriad of ways. He hit one 3-point shot, came roaring down the key to tip in a missed shot, threw down a couple of dunks and showed that extra burst of speed driving the lane several times.

"He was good tonight," NMSU coach Marvin Menzies said. "He's getting more confident as the season goes along. He's really developed, and you can see it in his game. It's a direct result of hard work and coaching as well.

"Nevada getting out on us in the beginning of the game probably hurt us the most, the way they jumped on us and got the crowd into it. It was one of those things if you have the first four or five minutes back, maybe you can have a nail-biter instead of them protecting a lead."

Fox couldn't have written a better script for the first half. Nevada hit 63 percent of its shots from the field and held a double-digit lead for the last 10 minutes of the first half en route to a 47-35 advantage.

Nevada scored 10 of the game's first 11 points, as Fields, David Ellis, Armon Johnson, Kemp and Demarshay Johnson all scored buckets.

New Mexico State sliced the deficit to 24-16 with 10:21 left on a field goal by Martin iti and a slam by Herb Pope.

However, the Wolf Pack roared back with a 12-4 run highlighted by two dunks by Fields, including one of the highlight reel variety and a dunk by Armon Johnson. Fields' second dunk made it 36-20 with 5:21 left.

The Aggies, who shot 38 percent in the first 20 minutes, got four points each by Jahmar Young and Pope to cut the lead to 12 at the break.

Kemp was especially effective in the first half, scoring 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the floor.

"A couple of shots went in, and It felt good," Kemp said.

Kemp was dogged most of the night by the Aggies' Justin Hawkins, and the NMSU star was seen shaking his head after Kemp drained a couple of long-distance shots.

"We played extremely well early in the game," Fox said. "They came back like any good team does and it was a battle."

The teams played on even terms the first two minutes of the second half, but Nevada bounced back with an 8-2 run, as the Aggies went without a field goal for a shade over three minutes.

Fields started the surge with a field goal, and after Hawkins turned the ball over, JaVale McGee (12 points, 4 rebounds, 5 blocked shots) drained a short bank shot for a 57-42 lead.

Hatila Passos knocked in two foul shots to make it 57-44, but that's when the game went south on the Aggies.

Young (18 points) missed on the inside, and Nevada hurried the ball up the floor. Fields got the ball on the left wing and went hard to the basket. He attempted to dunk over Fred Peete, who was called for his fourth foul. The two started jawing at each other, and Peete was nailed for a technical foul and fouled out with 15:52 left.

Kemp knocked down the two technical foul shots and Fields converted both foul shots to stretch the lead to 61-44.

New Mexico State, behind the shooting of Jonathan Gibson, Young and Wendell McKines, went on an 11-3 run, and sliced the Pack lead to 64-55 with 12:19 remaining.

Gibson (13 points) hit a jump shot, a 3-pointer and a lay-up that was goaltended. Young and Hawkins scored from close range in the surge.

Fields and McGee took over, each scoring a basket and a 3-pointer which stretched the lead to 74-58 with 9:54 left. The lead stayed in double digits until Gibson hit a tough 3-pointer to make it 87-78 with 2:43 left. Nevada got five free throws and a lay-up by Armon Johnson in the final 1:06 to put the finishing touches on the hard-fought win.

"It was a good win," Fields said. "They are a good team. We lost to them last year. We've gone 2-for-2 this year."

Added Kemp, "It was a good win. We're in position now (to win the league). It was a good win for our team."