Win City: Dent puts on show, Lobos pick up road victory at UNLV

For Donovan Dent and the UNM Lobos, Las Vegas is finally Win City.

Coupled with a spectacular shot-for-shot, back-and-forth battle between two of the best point guards in college basketball, the Lobos held on for a 75-73 win over the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels on Saturday in the Thomas & Mack Center, the first Lobos win over UNLV in Las Vegas since 2018.

Dent had 34 points and was a perfect 6-for-6 at the free-throw line while UNLV sophomore Dedan Thomas Jr. had 18 points and seven assists — both guards seemingly one-upping the other with difficult clutch shot after difficult clutch shot down the stretch.

“That was a heck of a second half,” UNM coach Richard Pitino said. “The first half was a little choppy with all the foul trouble. But I thought that was a — I don’t know if fun is the right word, because it’s not fun for me, but I bet it was fun for our fans to watch.”

UNM improves to 17-4 overall and 9-1 in Mountain West play, and will remain in first place at least until next Saturday’s road showdown with 8-1 Utah State The Aggies, 87-58 winners over Air Force on Saturday, host UNLV (11-9, 5-4 MW) on Wednesday in Logan, Utah.

“(UNLV) had our number the last two years,” Dent said of picking up the road win, UNM’s fourth of Mountain West play. “0-and-3 against them all time for me, it was great to get my first one against them on the road.”

Dent’s 34 points (on 23-of-21 shooting, including hitting a pair of 3-pointers), is a new career high in a Mountain West game. He’s now reached 30 or more points three times this season and has established himself as the frontrunner for Mountain West Player of the Year.

Just as it appeared the Lobos might be taking control of the game late, Thomas hit a ridiculous off-balance, turnaround baseline jumper as the shot clock expired with 5:17 remaining to pull UNLV within two at 68-66.

Dent answered, putting the Lobos up 70-66 with 4:49 to go, before the Rebels went on a 6-0 run to lead 72-70 with 3:10 remaining.

A pair of Dent free throws and a Nelly Junior Joseph put back (he had his MW leading 11th double-double of the season with 22 points and a career-high 18 rebounds), put the Lobos up 74-72 with 2:04 left — where the scoreboard would remain until the final seconds of the game.

And as brilliant as Dent and Thomas were on Saturday, each came up on the short end of huge plays in the final 25 seconds that defined the game’s outcome.

Dent, wide open in the corner out of an out-of-bounds play, air-balled a three-point attempt.

The Rebels took possession with a chance to tie or take the lead.

With the ball in Thomas’ hands, the sophomore point guard drove toward the basket and went up for shot, drawing the foul from Dent with 1.3 seconds remaining in the game.

Down two, Thomas made the first, cutting the Lobo lead to 74-73, but missed the second free throw.

“I had a lot of adrenaline. I shot it, (and was like) ‘That’s strong,’” Dent said of his key miss. “I think he had a lot of adrenaline and his free throw was a little long. Adrenaline’s a big thing in basketball.”

Thomas’ second miss turned into rebound 18 for Junior Joseph, who was immediately fouled.

With 0.5 seconds left on the clock, he made the first free throw, putting UNM up 75-73, then looked to Pitino, who instructed him to miss the second.

He did. UNLV got the rebound but did not have enough time to get a good full-court shot off.

“(My staff wanted him to make it,” Pitino said. “I wanted to miss. He made the first one, and then I told him, miss the second. ... I thought it was the right play.”

Game over. Losing streak over.

“I thought (Junior Joseph) was phenomenal,” Pitino said. “Donovan, obviously big-time box score, but the rebounding was absurd from Nelly. He had a block that was really good, had some steals, big rebound on the missed free throw, so he was terrific.”

Julian Rishwain added 16 points for UNLV, including hitting 5-of-10 3-pointers.

UNM, meanwhile, was just 3-of-13 from 3-point range in the game. UNM out-rebounded UNLV 43-35 and outscored the Rebels in the paint 42-28.

“Their length has hurt us in the past,” Pitino said. “They don’t have as much length as they did in the past.”

Dent’s 18 (just one first half assist) and Junior Joseph’s 10 points in the first half led the Lobos. UNLV got scoring from eight players and were 5-of-11 from 3-point range (UNM was 3-8).

NOTES: Dent is the first Lobo to score 30 or more points in a Mountain West road game since Morris Udeze had 31 in a road win at San Jose State on Feb. 17, 2023.

Bear Cherry hit a layup with 19:29 showing on the clock in the second half, giving UNLV a 41-39 lead. It was the Rebels’ first lead and ended a streak of 100 minutes, 31 seconds without trailing (20 minutes, 31 seconds on Saturday, all 40 minutes in Monday’s win over Fresno State and all 40 minutes in the Jan. 17 win over Boise State).

Mustapha Amzil scored only two points in 21 minutes, and did not play the final nine minutes. Pitino said Amzil is dealing with plantar fasciitis, an ailment that has limited him in practice throughout the week.

New UNLV football coach Dan Mullen was introduced at the under-12 media timeout and asked Rebel fans to support the program and said he planned to win, not just play for, Mountain West championships.

BOX SCORE: New Mexico 75, UNLV 73

EMPTYING THE NOTEBOOK: Dent was brilliant, but did Nelly Junior Joseph just play his best collegiate game?