RENO, Nev. (AP) - After a loss in the last game, Nevada coach Eric Musselman told forward Tre’Shawn Thurman he would not start the next game. It’s something he also did after the Wolf Pack’s first loss of the season back in January, and they bounced back with wins both times.
Thurman had 14 points, a team-high 10 rebounds and four assists to help No. 6 Nevada narrowly avoid losing back-to-back games for the first time this season, beating Fresno State 74-68 Saturday night.
“We’ve lost two games now this year and both games I pulled Thurman out of the starting lineup, and he’s responded,” Musselman said. “We don’t win the game tonight without Tre having a really, really good game.”
Caleb Martin led the Wolf Pack with 24 points, Jordan Caroline added 17 and Jazz Johnson had 10 in his first start of the season.
Nevada (25-2, 12-2 Mountain West) trailed 62-60 with 4:34 left, but went on an 8-0 run over the next two minutes to grab its largest lead of the game.
When Fresno State pulled within three with 44 seconds left, Thurman dribbled from the wing and dunked on Fresno State’s New Williams, which sealed the win for the Wolf Pack.
“I thought about passing it out to run some clock out,” said Thurman, an Omaha transfer and fifth-year senior. “Somebody drove and freed me up, and when I pumped fake, I saw there was an opening, so I took it and went with it.”
Fresno State (19-8, 10-5) matched Nevada with 32 rebounds and outscored the Wolf Pack 28-20 in the paint.
“Guys are fighting, guys are pushing, guys are clawing, guys want to win,” Thurman said “That team wanted to win.it was definitely a tough game. The refs just let us play.”
Fresno State jumped to a fast start, connecting on its first four shots - all 3-pointers - en route to an early 12-6 lead.
Nevada shot 62 percent from beyond the arc in the first half to take a 42-39 lead at the break. The Wolf Pack finished 54 percent on 3s for the game.
Fresno State held Nevada to 33 percent shooting in the second half.
Deshon Taylor led Fresno State with 30 points on 11-for-19 shooting. Taylor’s effort mirrored his performance last time he played at Nevada and had a career-high 32 points on Jan. 31, 2018.
Nevada, which was coming off 65-57 loss at San Diego State on Wednesday, has four games remaining before the conference tournament, and then NCAA Tournament.
“We’re at the home stretch,” Johnson said. “There’s the tournament talks and all that stuff. … Guys can kind of look at that and look forward. The biggest thing is we have to stay focused on each game, especially with this stretch coming up.”
BIG PICTURE
Fresno State: The Bulldogs lost their second-straight game, now three games out of first place in the Mountain West standings with three games left.
Nevada: The Wolf Pack rebounded from their second loss of the season Wednesday at San Diego State and took a half-game lead over Utah State in the conference standings.
INJURY REPORT
Musselman said several of his players were dealing with some injuries, but knows all teams go through that at this point of the season.
“(Cody Martin) got a pretty bad bone bruise against San Diego State and struggled,” Musselman said. “Caleb still has issues he is dealing with and, obviously, Jazz’s (Johnson) shoulder has kind of been a chronic thing. I’m sure if you ask Fresno, they have the same thing. … We’ve always finished strong and we hope that we can do it again this year.”
Johnson said his shoulder injury has lingered throughout his career since he was a freshman, but that he is working through it. He played a season-high 40 minutes Saturday.
UP NEXT
Fresno State: Hosts Wyoming on Wednesday night.
Nevada: Hosts in-state rival UNLV on Wednesday night.
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