The Nevada Wolf Pack (18-9, 10-6) returned home Saturday night to face off against conference rival, the Utah State Aggies (23-4, 13-3), after a disappointing 87-71 loss at San Jose on Tuesday night.
The Aggies won the tipoff and set the tone early at Lawlor Events Center, but Wolf Pack center Joel Armotrading opened up the scoring. Both teams went back and forth in the first half, trading turnovers and threes. Nevada trailed the majority of the first half, until guard Corey Camper Jr.’s 3-pointer at the 9:28 mark gave the Wolf Pack the lead, 18-15.
The first half remained a grudge match, with neither team able to sustain a lead. Turnovers continued to hurt Nevada. Guard Vaughn Weems turned the ball over to Utah State guard Drake Allen, which led to a 3-pointer from guard Kolby King. The misplays continued from there, as Nevada committed 17 turnovers in the first half. Utah State headed into the half with a 40-38 lead over Nevada.
The second half started out challenging for Nevada. Allen made three 3-pointers within the first five minutes. Although the Aggies never took their foot off the gas, the Wolf Pack never truly fell behind.
A mix of layups and free throws from Weems, Camper Jr. and forward Elijah Price kept Nevada in the game, down 62-56 under the 10-minute mark. Guard Tayshawn Comer’s free throw brought Nevada to the 60-point mark, but still trailed 66-60 with 7:55 to go.
Comer and King traded 3-pointers as well, making the score a 71-65 advantage for Utah State, with under six minutes to go.
The momentum swung in Nevada’s favor at the four-minute mark when Utah State’s Mason Falslev missed both free throw attempts, and Nevada guard Tyler Rolison and forward Kaleb Lowery made back to back layups. 71-69 Utah State with 3:46 to go.
After Kaleb Lowery and Mason Falslev scored for their respective teams, Camper Jr. came up huge with a crucial 3-pointer. After a mix of missed free throws and 3-pointers from both teams, the Wolf Pack escaped Lawlor with an 80-77 win over Utah State.
“He’s been very consistent,” Nevada coach Steve Alford said in a post-game press conference, talking about Camper Jr.’s late 3-pointer and his game tonight. “He did a lot of really good things tonight… I really liked what we got done tonight.”
Alford praised the team for their physicality and presence during the game. “We were great on the glass. We were physical all night. We got to the free throw line, we made foul shots and we did what we’ve done a lot this year. We won the last eight minutes, and we did a really good job in the last eight minutes both offensively and defensively,” he said.
The Wolf Pack are back in action at home this Tuesday against the New Mexico Lobos at 8 p.m.
