The UNLV Runnin’ Rebels came up short in their regular-season finale against New Mexico 81-67 on Friday at The Pit.
The Runnin’ Rebels, however, didn’t go down without a fight against the Lobos.
The Runnin’ Rebels came into this game already short of personnel due to injury. They lost Julian Rishwain about seven minutes in because of injury, who did not return to the game.
UNLV was led by Jalen Hill, scoring 16 points. Jeremiah Cherry and Jaden Henley both scored 14 points. Jailen Bedford added 10.
Before leaving the game, Rishwain scored eight points.
Nelly Joseph led the Lobos with a double-double, scoring 26 points and grabbing 16 rebounds, while Donovan Dent added 20 points, and Tru Washington scored 19 points.
With 6:28 to go, New Mexico held on to a slim lead, 65-64, before going on a 12-0 run over a three-minute stretch to take a 77-64 lead with 2:09 left in the game.
New Mexico closed out the game, going on a final 16-3 run.
“We competed like crazy. This is a tough place to come in and play and a tough place to come in and get wins,” UNLV coach Kevin Kruger said. “A handful of guys went 40 minutes and competed as hard as they could for 40 of those minutes. It was tough, and fatigue kicked in but that’s going to happen in the situation that we were in. We had a lot of fight and made lot of great plays. We will turn our attention now and get ready for the next one.”
Next, the Runnin’ Rebels enter the Mountain West Conference Tournament as the No. 6 seed. UNLV’s first tournament game will come against No.11 Air Force on Wednesday, at 4 p.m. PT at the Thomas & Mack Center.
