McCaw nets 25 to lift Rebels over Boise State, 87-77

It's on these nights when UNLV shows it can play with the best in the Mountain West that attention so easily turns to March.

It's a long time between now and the conference tournament, but talent has never been the Rebels' issue.

Execution and focus and toughness were the major questions, and they won't completely go away because of what happened Wednesday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.

But the Rebels, who scored 26 points in the final 7:21, showed with their 87-77 victory over Boise State that they should be a force come tournament time.

"We got our bounce back," UNLV interim coach Todd Simon said.

The Rebels needed it after losing at UNR on Saturday, but that is the only loss for UNLV (13-8, 4-4 MW) in five games under Simon, and the Rebels dented Boise State's hopes of competing for the regular-season conference title. The Broncos (15-6 overall) dropped to 6-2 in league play.

Next, the Rebels hope to hurt San Diego State's chance of claiming the Mountain West. The Aztecs (15-6, 8-0) visit the Thomas & Mack on Saturday.

Patrick McCaw led UNLV with 25 points, scoring 19 in the second half as the Rebels took control late.

"Big ups to Pat for taking those shots," Rebels forward Ben Carter said. "He won't take credit, but he had a hell of a game."

This tied McCaw's highest-scoring game of the season, and this performance came after three successive single-digit games for him.

"I struggled the last few games, but I always tried to play locked in," McCaw said.

Stephen Zimmerman Jr. scored 18 points for the Rebels, and Derrick Jones Jr. added 17.

Mikey Thompson, a Canyon Springs High School graduate, led Boise State with 19 points.

The game went back and forth for most of the first half before Boise State went on a 9-2 run to take a 40-32 lead into the locker room.

Boise State beat the Rebels in transition, outscoring them 14-5. And the Broncos dominated inside, grabbing 25 rebounds to 18 for UNLV.

The Rebels came out aggressive in the second, attacking Boise State and drawing five fouls by the first media timeout.

UNLV caught the Broncos at 46-46, outscoring them 14-6 to open the half. Zimmerman scored six of those points, but he also picked up his third foul with 14:27 left and went to the bench.

Boise State edged out in front again, but the Rebels went on an 11-1 run, punctuated by McCaw's steal and slam dunk that brought the crowd to its feet. That gave UNLV a 59-53 lead with 9:18 left.

But UNLV's Dwayne Morgan fouled out with 8:44 remaining, and Boise State used got back to within 61-59 on layups by Anthony Drmic and Thompson.

Boise State couldn't get any closer, though, with the Rebels using strong defense to help on the offensive end and stretch out the lead.

Jerome Seagears and Jones each had driving layups to push UNLV's lead to 77-67 with 2:42 left before Boise State answered with five points. But then McCaw made a 3-pointer with 1:52 remaining to make the lead 80-72, and the game was as good as over.

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65