Nevada hosted Duquesne on Saturday night, a game that wasn’t 100 percent guaranteed to happen. A power outage hit the north side of campus, which included Lawlor Events Center. The outage forced the Nevada women’s game to go into a no-contest and there was uncertainty if it would be back on in time for the men’s tip-off.
Luckily, power was restored, and a win was granted to Nevada, beating Duquesne 78-75 in another nail-biter that came down to the wire. This game was a constant momentum shift, with
both sides trading off dominant runs and long scoring droughts.
Scoring Summary
1st Half
Duquesne 35 – Nevada 42
2nd Half
Duquesne 40 – Nevada 36
Final: Duquesne 75, Nevada 78
Offense
Nevada was playing behind to start, but Chuck Bailey was keeping Nevada in it early on. Six of Nevada’s eight early points came from Bailey inside.
The offense took advantage of the Duke’s scoring drought, going on a 15-0 run that included a three-pointer by Peyton White, giving Nevada its first lead of the game. White hit a mid-range jumper followed by three from Amire Robinson, giving Nevada a quick seven point lead in a matter of minutes.
Nevada’s offense just kept on pounding. A 25-6 run over a span of 10 minutes helped give the Wolf Pack a lead as high as 14 points toward the end of the first half. Nearly half of Nevada’s points in that first half came from inside the paint as it took a 42-35 lead into halftime. Nevada also shot over 50 percent from the field in the first half.
A hot start to the second half for Duquesne was a cold one for Nevada. The Pack collected eight points to open up before hitting a scoring drought, allowing Duquesne to close within a few points. The drought lasted a little over three minutes before freshman Myles Walker hit a three to extend the game to 53-49.
It was off and on for Nevada’s offense from there, which allowed the Dukes to tie and then take the lead on a Nevada scoring drought that lasted over three minutes. A free throw by Elijah Price and a layup by Tayshawn Comer allowed Nevada to retake a slim 72-71 lead with 1:13 to go.
It came down to free throws, which Nevada made 24-32 to seal a close 78-75 win. Nevada went 7-8 from the free-throw line in the final minute of the half to seal its eighth win.
“What can you say about your freshmen, Myles [Walker] and Peyton [White], who continue to make veteran plays,” Alford said. “That was a highly contested game, down to the wire, and you got two freshmen going to the line the last two trips and go 4-4 at the line, that’s big time.”
Defense
Duquesne opened up the game with two quick threes on some missed defensive switches for Nevada. There were two quick turnovers for the Pack in the first seven minutes of the half that turned into six points for the Dukes.
After going up by eight for a 16-8 lead, Duquesne went on a scoring drought of over five minutes. The Dukes also gave up three turnovers in that span. They broke out of the dry spell just under the 10-minute mark with another shot beyond the arc.
Duquesne closed the gap a bit but didn’t shoot the best in the first half, going 36 percent from the field and 39 percent from beyond the arc. Guards Tarence Guinyard and Jimmie Williams both collected double digits in that first half, but the rest of the Duke’s offense was slow. Guinyard ended the night as the Dukes’ lead scorer with 21 points on 5-11 shooting.
The Dukes opened the second half with much more pace, leading to a 7-0 run before Nevada had to take a timeout.
It was much more tight-knit within the final 10 minutes, as both sides traded momentum. With 2:04 to go, Duquesne made a three to tie the game at 69 and used a turnover to take the lead in the middle of a 9-0 run. All in all, Nevada’s defense may have played hot potato, but it closed it out when it needed to. Duquesne finished shooting 39 percent from the field and 33 from three.
“I didn’t think our start and finish in the first half was very good defensively,” head coach Steve Alford said. “In the middle, it was really good, and then to start the second half was bad, but we closed out some good stops.”
What’s Next
Nevada will begin conference play next weekend, and it’ll do it from the comfort of its own home. The Wolf Pack will host rival Boise State on Saturday, Dec. 20, at Lawlor. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.
The Broncos are coming off a dominant win over Duquesne a week ago and will be playing St Mary’s tomorrow night.
“Beat ‘em [Boise State],” Amire Robinson said about what the mindset is going into the first conference game of the year. “We didn’t come out good against Duquesne, and they beat Duquesne pretty good, so we got to shove back and really kill them this time.”
