Caleb Martin scored a game-high 26 points, and Jordan Caroline finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds as eighth-ranked Nevada cruised to an 87-70 Mountain West Conference victory over UNLV on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
It was the sixth straight victory for Nevada, which hit the 20-win mark for the fourth consecutive season. Jazz Johnson scored 11 points off the bench, and Cody Martin added 10 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Wolf Pack (20-1, 7-1 MW).
Nevada shot 48.1 percent from the field -- including 9 of 22 from 3-point range -- while holding UNLV to just 36.8 percent shooting from the field.
Caroline's double-double was his 12th of the season and the 42nd of the senior's career.
Kris Clyburn scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Amauri Hardy added 17 points for UNLV (11-9, 5-3), which lost for the fifth time in its past six meetings against Nevada and for the fourth straight time against the Wolf Pack at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Nevada never trailed in the contest, building a 22-10 lead in the first nine-plus minutes and then blowing the game open with a 21-5 run capped by back-to-back 3-pointers by Johnson and Caroline. That surge stretched the margin to 44-21 en route to a 48-26 halftime lead.
A layup by Tre'Shawn Thurman gave Nevada its largest lead, 60-35, with 15:13 remaining in regulation. The Runnin' Rebels never got any closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
UNLV, which averaged 14 made 3-pointers in its four previous games entering the contest and was shooting 41.9 percent beyond the arc in Mountain West play, was 0-for-12 from 3-point range in the first half and finished 7-for-26 behind the arc.
The Runnin' Rebels didn't sink their first trey until freshman Joel Ntambwe connected at the 17:36 mark of the second half, extending the teams' NCAA record streak with at least one 3-pointer to 1,059 games -- or every game UNLV has played since the start of the 1986-87 season when the 3-point arc was implemented.
--Field Level Media
Nevada | UNLV | |
Caleb Martin 26 | Scoring | Kris Clyburn 23 |
Cody Martin 7 | Assists | Noah Robotham 7 |
Jordan Caroline 10 | Rebounds | Nick Blair 9 |
Caleb Martin 8 | Free Throws Made | Amauri Hardy 5 |
Caleb Martin 2 | Steals | Kris Clyburn 2 |
Jordan Brown 2 | Blocks | Tervell Beck 1 |