Men’s Basketball wins home-opener, 67-54
Nevada guard Marcelus Kemp is ready to be the Wolf Pack’s go-to guy.
After struggling in the Wolf Pack’s first two games of the season, the senior guard railed off 19 of his 23 points in the second half to lead the Wolf Pack to a 67-54 win against Santa Clara at Lawlor Events Center.
The Wolf Pack led 26-25 at the break after struggling offensively in the first half, but Kemp scored seven points during a 13-0 run to start the second half that helped the Wolf Pack put the game away.
Nevada guard Brandon Fields started the run with a floater to give the Wolf Pack a 30-27 lead with 17:59 left in the game. After a Broncos turnover, Fields set up an easy layup for Armon Johnson by blowing past the man guarding him and collapsing the defense.
Kemp then hit a fadeaway jumper, a layup and a 3-pointer before Fields capped the run with a basket to give the wolf Pack a 41-27 lead with 13:32 remaining.
“I just got my rhythm tonight,” Kemp said. “I just got my rhythm and I took some good shots and they went down.”
The Broncos managed to cut the lead to five at 43-38 with just less than 9 minutes left, but Kemp scored eight of Nevada’s next 10 points as the Wolf Pack extended it’s lead back to double digits at 54-44 with less than 10 minutes and the Broncos couldn’t respond.
“You’re chasing a big, strong, physical player and now you’re asked to go to the other end of the floor and make a play,” Santa Clara coach Kerry Keating said. “It’s tough. That’s the difference. Having a guy like Marcelus on your team is a big deal. It’s nice to have a guy like that.”
The Broncos also hung around in the first half, trailing by just one at the break.
They hit five 3-pointers in the half to hang with the Wolf Pack.
Nevada coach Mark Fox said the game was good for his young team because of the way the Broncos fought back after falling behind.
“I thought this game was something this team needs,” Fox said. “This teams experiences it needs adversity it needs challenges. They saw all of that tonight.”
Freshman point guard Armon Johnson scored 13 points on 5 of 8 shooting. Guard Brandon Fields added 13 points with 11 coming in the second half.
After missing some open jump shots in the first half, Fields started slashing to the basket to score or create opportunities for teammates. He also dished out four assists.
“He was able to penetrate tonight because that’s what the defense gave him,” Fox said. “Brandon was much more mature in the second half than he was in the first half and that’s why he was better.”
The Wolf Pack’s only other home game this month is Nov. 28 against California.
It’s next game is next Saturday against UNLV.
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on Sunday, November 18th, 2007 at 3:03 pm and is filed under Breaking News, Men's Basketball, Sports.
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