Jordan Caroline had 14 of his 25 points in the first half and teammate Caleb Martin had 17 of his 21 points after intermission as No. 6 Nevada went on a run late in the first half and beat Tulsa 96-86 on Thursday at the Las Vegas Holiday Invitational.
Nevada's Jazz Johnson made five 3-pointers while adding 20 points and Martin was 10-of-10 from the line in a game that had 50 fouls.
Caroline also added 11 rebounds while Johnson had 11 of his points in the first half. Nevada senior Martin hit a 3-pointer to give the Wolf Pack a 72-59 lead midway through the second half.
Nevada was 35 of 42 from the foul line while Tulsa was 21 of 27.
The Wolf Pack improved to 5-0 and will play Friday against UMass, which beat Southern Illinois 84-62 earlier on Thursday. Sterling Taplin had 11 of his 22 points in the first half for Tulsa (4-1) and he also added seven assists while teammate Martins Igbanu had 14 points.
Tulsa trailed 46-35 at halftime but pulled within 53-45 with two free throws by Taplin with 16:57 left in the game.
But Tre'Shawn Thurman of Nevada scored to give his team a lead of 63-50 with 14:45 to go. Caroline connected on a basket to push the margin to 74-59 with 10:35 to go.
Another 3-pointer, by Johnson, gave Nevada its biggest lead at that point at 77-60 with 10:12 remaining.
Tulsa's Jeriah Horne hit a 3-pointer to pull the Golden Hurricane within 82-71 with 6:51 left but Martin made two free throws with 2:10 left to make it 92-79 and ice the contest.
The Golden Hurricane started off strong and trailed just 22-18 after a free throw by Curran Scott midway through the first half. But Nevada went on an 8-0 run to make it 30-18 on a 3-pointer by Johnson with 7:04 left.
Caroline made a basket with 3:53 left to make the score 40-28, and the Wolf Pack led 46-35 at intermission.
Tulsa made just 2 of 12 shots from 3-point range in the first half and had just three assists on its 13 made field goals. Nevada had just three assists on its 14 field goals in the first half but controlled the boards 21-15. The Wolf Pack ended up with a 35-30 edge on the boards.
The Wolf Pack of the Mountain West began last season 8-0.
Tulsa faces Southern Illinois on Friday in the consolation matchup.
--Field Level Media
Tulsa | Nevada | |
Sterling Taplin 22 | Scoring | Jordan Caroline 25 |
Sterling Taplin 7 | Assists | Jordan Brown 2 |
DaQuan Jeffries 6 | Rebounds | Jordan Caroline 11 |
Martins Igbanu 6 | Free Throws Made | Jordan Caroline 12 |
Simon Falokun 1 | Steals | Jordan Caroline 1 |
Chris Barnes 1 | Blocks | Trey Porter 2 |