LAS VEGAS - A back-and-forth contest saw the Fresno State men's basketball team earn an 82-79 road win over the UNLV Runnin' Rebels on Friday evening at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Fresno State (8-14, 4-7 MW) was led by Jemarl Baker, who scored a Fresno State career-high 23 points and added three assists, two rebounds and a steal.
Isaiah Hill registered 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field while Isaih Moore tallied 11 points off the bench and corralled a team-high eight rebounds.
UNLV (15-8, 4-7 MW) was led by EJ Harkless with 27 points and Keshon Gilbert added 19 points and five rebounds for the Runnin' Rebels.How It Happened
Trailing 43-37 at halftime, the Bulldogs got the second half started with a 7-0 run getting a field goal from Hill and five points from Eduardo Andre to take a one-point lead.
After a three-point play for UNLV gave the Rebels a five-point lead at 62-57 midway through the second half, the 'Dogs jumped back into the lead with an 8-0 run over the next three-and-half minutes to go ahead 65-62.
A jumper by Baker with 2:59 to play in the second half extended the 'Dogs lead to eight at 75-67.
A three-pointer by UNLV cut the 'Dogs lead down to two, 76-74 with 1:19 to play as the Bulldogs hit 6-of-8 free throws down the stretch to seal a hard-fought win.
Notes
With the win, Fresno State has won 11 of the last 15 meetings in its all-time series with UNLV and completed the first regular season sweep of the Runnin' Rebels since 2018 (5-4 in Hutson's tenure).
Seven of the last eight games in the series have been decided by two possessions or less.
Six of the last eight games in the series have been decided by one possession (three points or fewer).
Fresno State improved to 8-1 this season when leading with five minutes to play in the game.
Through the first 22 games of the season, Fresno State has had 11 of its 13 scholarship players miss at least one game due to injury or illness and have combined to miss 71 games throughout the 2022-23 season.
This was the first time two Bulldogs have scored 20 or more points in the same game this season.
There were 15 lead changes and eight ties in a game that neither team led by more than eight points.
Fresno State finished a stretch of playing three games in seven days, including the final two on the road.
Up next
The Bulldogs return home to host San Jose State (13-9, 4-5 MW) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on FOX 26.2/Mountain West Network and the Bulldog Sports Network.