UNLV escapes with 82-76 overtime win at San Jose State

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The lights didn’t initially come on at The Event Center on Wednesday, and there were plans discussed to move UNLV’s basketball game against San Jose State to Stanford.

But then there was light, and everyone stayed put.

The Rebels, though, played as if in the dark all night against a Spartans team with a Kenpom ranking of No. 301 and had a hard time shaking the home team, eventually going to overtime. But in the extra session, Jovan Mooring’s 3-pointer with 2:09 remaining gave the Rebels the lead for good as they escaped with an 82-76 victory.

“I had an open look,” Mooring said. “I knew we needed a bucket, so I was doing what I could to contribute to the win.”

Mooring’s shot, his first make of the game and only his second attempt, ended a UNLV cold spell of 10:08 between field goals. That basket also helped UNLV emerge as the winner despite missing four of its first eight free throws in overtime.

Brandon McCoy led UNLV with 23 points, Shakur Juiston scored 14, Kris Clyburn 13 and Jordan Johnson 10. Ryan Welage led San Jose State with 23 points, and Noah Baumann had 12. Those two players combined to make 7-of-12 3-pointers.

UNLV (12-3, 1-1 Mountain West) badly needed the victory after opening conference play with an 83-74 loss to Boise State. The Rebels have won six of their past seven games, and they next play Utah State on Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center. Utah State (9-7, 2-1) defeated Fresno State 81-79 on Wednesday.

The Rebels will need come out stronger against Utah State than they did against the Spartans (3-11, 0-3).

San Jose State led most of the first half before Clyburn’s steal and layup put UNLV ahead 27-25 with 4 minutes left. The Rebels closed the first half by outscoring the Spartans 14-5 to take a 37-30 lead into the locker room.

Strangely, Mooring took just one shot in the first half (he missed), and McCoy didn’t grab a rebound. Mooring entered the game averaging 15.0 points and McCoy 10.9 rebounds.

UNLV, instead, found a spark off a suddenly thin bench from Tervell Beck. With reserves Cheickna Dembele (concussion) and Anthony Smith (ankle) not playing, Beck stepped in and led the Rebels with nine first-half points. Another backup, Cheikh Mbacke Diong, had two points, three rebounds, a blocked shot and an assist in just seven minutes.

The Rebels took a 42-32 lead less than two minutes into the second half, but instead of taking control, they didn’t expand the advantage and allowed San Jose State to remain close, closing regulation by outscoring UNLV 15-4.

“Just really bad execution,” Rebels coach Marvin Menzies said. “We started getting nervous. We were choking.”

Baumann’s 3-pointer with 24 seconds left put the Spartans in front 66-65. Diong made the second of two free throws with 6.9 seconds left to tie the game and force an extra five minutes.

“I was a little nervous because that was a lot of pressure,” Diong said.

Baumann made another 3-pointer with 3:46 left in overtime to put the Spartans in front 69-67. Then Clyburn and Juiston each made a free throw to tie the game.

That’s when Mooring, who uncharacteristically hadn’t shot much, took the shot of the night, putting the Rebels in position to deny the upset bid.

“It’s conference,” Menzies said. “You’ve got to get out of here with wins. Obviously, there are always blemishes every game. There are a lot of consistency things we didn’t well.

“It’s a young team with a lot of different faces. Even though we’ve been together for half a season now … they’ve still got room for growth, obviously. Everybody sometimes wants to move the needle faster than it’s physically able to move, and we’ll keep pushing it.”

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.