Nevada suffers tough loss to Houston, 80-79
Tuesday, Mar. 18, 2008 @ 9:58 pm
With less than 2 seconds on the clock and the Nevada men’s basketball team trailing Houston 80-79, freshman guard Armon Johnson rose up for a 3-pointer to win the game.
The 4,000-plus fans in attendance let out a gasp as the shot flew through the air as time expired, hoping that somehow the shot would fall and the Wolf Pack’s season would continue.
But Johnson missed the mark by just inches, ending the season with a loss to the Cougars in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational.
“Armon had the shot we drew up,” Nevada coach Mark Fox said. “It just didn’t go down. He feels bad about it, but he’s been a terrific player for us.”
Johnson was one of five players in double figures for the Wolf Pack. He scored 16 points and handed out four assists, sophomore Brandon Fields added 15 points, sophomore JaVale McGee scored 12 and freshman Malik Cooke scored 10.
But while Johnson talked about getting back into gym tomorrow to work on his shot and prepare for next season, along with the Wolf Pack’s talented bunch of underclassmen, Tuesday was the final game in the career of Wolf Pack senior Marcelus Kemp.
Kemp led the Wolf Pack with a game-high 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting and he also grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists.
He leaves the Wolf Pack after six years on campus and as the program’s No. 2 all-time scorer.
“Marcelus has been a terrific player for our school,” Fox said while choking back tears. “He’s grown up a lot as a person, as a student and as a player. To experience that with somebody is a remarkable experience. I’m just really proud to have had the chance to coach him.”
The Wolf Pack trailed 43-36 at halftime and fell behind 50-40 after a Kelvin Lewis 3-pointer with 17:45 left in the game.
The Wolf Pack fought back with a 20-5 run, led by seven points from Johnson and six from Kemp.
Kemp started the run with a pair of jumpers, then Johnson scored in the post after a Marcus Cousin basket to make the score 52-46.
Demarshay Johnson followed with a huge dunk set up by a behind-the-back pass from McGee and Fields knocked down a big 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one point.
Armon Johnson gave the Wolf Pack its first lead of the second half after stealing the ball from Lewis and completing a 3-point play on the other end to make the score 54-52 with 13:05 left in the game.
Dion Dowell answered with a 3-pointer for the Cougars before Armon Johnson made another jump shot, which was followed by two Cooke free throws and another Kemp jumper to finish the run and leave the Wolf Pack with a 60-55 lead with 10 minutes left.
“I was a little concerned with our team having enough juice and competitive spirit to come back and fight,” Fox said. “Our crowd really lifted us.”
The Cougars were able to retake the lead at 65-64 with a pair of free throws by Dowell with 6:16 left, the game remained close until Johnson’s buzzer-beater attempt rimmed out.
The Cougars made 14-of-35 3-pointers, including 10 of 18 in the first half. With the Cougars dropping shots from outside, Fox abandoned a man-to-man defense and played zone for much of the second half. The Cougars were then able to capitalize on some key offensive rebounds to create easy second chance points.
Despite a significant size advantage, the Wolf Pack lost the rebounding war 38-37.
The Cougars were led by Robert McKiver’s 22 points and Dowell’s 19 points and 14 rebounds.
The Cougars advance to play the winner of tomorrow’s Washington-Valparaiso game while the Wolf Pack focuses on getting better during the offseason.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 9:58 pm and is filed under Men's Basketball, Sports.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Print this post
Email this post
© 2008 The Nevada Sagebrush
March 19th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
UNR loses in the crybaby invitational. The post-season tournament you have to pay to play in. Now that Trent’s players are gone Fox is showing his true colors.
March 22nd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Undoubtedly, it was still a great game even though we lost it. All of our players are terrific, especially the five starters. Let’s keep fighting for next season. Go Pack! You can make it.