UNLV loses lead late, falls to Colorado State and falls below .500

The UNLV men’s basketball team looked like a different unit Friday night at Colorado State, coming off a 98-66 rout at Wyoming on Tuesday.

But the result was the same.

UNLV held a slim lead with under five minutes to play, but problems that plagued the Rebels earlier in the week reared their heads again.

Colorado State closed the game on a 16-4 run, and UNLV dropped its second straight Mountain West game in a 70-62 loss to the Rams at Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colorado.

“I was really proud of our guys’ effort. I had no issue with that,” UNLV coach Josh Pastner said in his postgame radio interview. “I was proud of the way they responded after Tuesday’s game. I told them today was going to showcase a lot about your character on how are you going to respond.”

Issac Williamson scored 14 points on a 4-for-6 shooting night with two 3-pointers off the bench to lead UNLV (7-8, 2-2 MW). Dra Gibbs Lawhorn scored 13 points and Al Green added 12 points off the bench for the Rebels.

UNLV had three players foul out — Kimani Hamilton (three points), Emmanuel Stephen (three points) and Jacob Bannarbie (five points). The Rebels shot 15 of 25 at the free-throw line and were 7 of 20 from the 3-point arc.

“This was a tough road trip, but I loved how we battled back,” Pastner said. “We just got to be better on the glass in both halves. It can’t be just one half. It’s got to be both halves. We need Tyrin (Jones) and Kimani to just be monsters in the paint there.”

UNLV and Colorado State (11-5, 2-3) traded the lead throughout the second half, after the Rams had a 32-29 advantage at halftime. It started with a 6-0 UNLV run, capped off by a Hamilton 3-pointer to give the Rebels a 40-38 lead.

Colorado State didn’t let UNLV lead for long as consecutive 3-pointers from Jase Butler and Brandon Rechsteiner put the Rams up 45-42 with 14:38 left.

After a strong first half, Green scored his first basket of the second half with a 3-pointer with 12:31 left to even the score at 47. That started a 7-0 UNLV run where the Rebels went ahead 51-47 at the halfway mark of the half.

Gibbs-Lawhorn hit a pair of free throws with 5:33 and UNLV held a 58-54 lead. Then Colorado State made its run late, attacking the basket and taking advantage of a shorthanded UNLV squad to regain the lead.

UNLV was held to one made field goal over the final nine minutes. Colorado State made 10 free throws over the final six minutes to go on its 16-4 run. Rechsteiner scored 15 points to lead Colorado State and was one of four Rams in double figures.

Colorado State shot 12 of 23 from the field in the second half, made nine 3-pointers and was 21 of 30 from the free throw line.

Pastner made what appeared to be a desperate move nearly four minutes into the game. He made wholesale substitutions, benching his five starters and bringing in a new unit of five onto the floor.

In the short term, it didn’t work, as Colorado State hit a 3-pointer after a UNLV travel to take a 9-0 lead. But the new lineup on the floor quickly recovered.

Green scored seven points during an 11-0 UNLV, and the Rebels took an 11-9 lead midway through the first half. Pastner’s message got through to his starters, as Gibbs-Lawhorn hit consecutive baskets to give the Rebels their largest lead of the first half, 16-11, with 8:33 before halftime.

“It was spur of the moment,” Pastner said. “I didn’t like that first group. We got our butts kicked (at Wyoming) and I wasn’t going to watch that again. I got those five guys out in a line change. Those five guys came off the bench, gave us a great lift, got us the lead and did a lot of good things.

Neither team could find much rhythm offensively in the first half after each team suffered scoring droughts, but Colorado State found success behind the arc, hitting five 3-pointers and making 11 of 15 free throws in the first 20 minutes.

UNLV took a 25-21 lead with under four minutes remaining before halftime on a Howie Fleming Jr. layup, but Colorado State attacked the paint to get back ahead. The Rams closed the final 2:12 on an 8-2 run, including making 6 of 8 free throws during that stretch, to regain the lead and take a 32-29 advantage into halftime.

UNLV returns home to host Boise State at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

“We should have more points in the paint. We should be better at the free throw line,” Pastner said. “I’m just frustrated because I want to win so bad for our guys after what happened Tuesday. To bounce back, I wanted to win so bad for our young men … proud of our guys effort, just didn’t get it done.”

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.