It was a stressful day for Nevada fans, who had to start their day with a tough 51-14 loss from the football program. However, turning the page to men’s basketball brought a bit of relief. While Nevada secured a win on the court, it was far from an easy victory—a truly stressful game from start to finish.
A few years ago, when these two programs faced off, Nevada dominated with a lopsided 88-39 victory. But this year’s matchup featured brand new teams and new seasons, bringing a much more competitive edge for both schools.
Nevada managed to build a 10-point lead in the first half, but the rest of the game was a constant back-and-forth battle. The first half ended tied at 40-40, with Tayshawn Comer leading the Pack with 14 points. While the rest of the offense took some time to warm up, the physicality was strong—nearly half of Nevada’s 40 points came from plays inside the paint.
The second half followed a similar pattern. Nevada opened with an early lead on a jumper by Joel Armotrading, but once again the game turned into a tug-of-war. At one point deep in the second half, Nevada found themselves down by as much as four points during a stretch where both teams traded baskets.
A pivotal moment came with 2:43 remaining when Tyler Rolison hit a three-pointer to give Nevada a 72-70 lead. From there, the Pack went on a 6-3 run and added some insurance with a layup from Comer with 40 seconds left.
Nevada finished the game shooting 43 percent from the field, 27 percent from three-point range, and 62 percent from the free-throw line. Comer led the offense with 19 points on 7-12 shooting, followed by Rolison (14), Corey Camper Jr. (12), Armotrading (11), and Elijah Price (10).
As the saying goes, a win is a win, but this was a game that shouldn’t have come down to the final seconds. Both Comer and coach Alford admitted after the game that their practices leading up to the matchup didn’t go as well as they should have, which showed during tonight’s performance.
“It’s always good to get a win, but I’m not the happiest with our performance as a team,” Comer said. “Pacific is a good team. I just feel like we didn’t prepare early on in practice before we played them, so that kind of dictated how we played today. We need to go back to the drawing board, get better, and focus on the next game.”
Coach Alford added, “They [Pacific] did a great job. They exploited us in some ways that we haven’t been exploited yet. This will be a great film for the staff to break down.”
Pacific proved to be an extremely pesky opponent throughout the game. Although Nevada held the lead most of the time, Pacific kept clawing its way back to tie the game at halftime. Forward Elias Ralph scored 12 points in the first half and finished as the Tigers’ leading scorer with 21.
In last week’s win against LA Tech, Nevada didn’t have to worry much about the deep ball. That was not the case against Pacific, who shot an impressive 44 percent from three-point range in the first half and 46 percent overall (15-33).
The lead changed hands 12 times and was tied 10 times during the contest. Coach Alford noted that the team’s attention to detail on defense was lacking, and a few lucky bounces ultimately made the difference.
With just five seconds remaining, Nevada was inbounding the ball when Rolison threw a pass that was stolen by Pacific. The Tigers drove into the paint for a chance to win the game, but the ball bounced off the rim, came back out, and their second attempt also missed as time expired.
Nevada narrowly avoided adding their name to the long list of Mountain West schools that have lost to weak non-conference opponents. Though the victory was close, coming away with a win is far easier to build upon.
“One, there’s a lot of parity. Two, early in the season, you have very little film to prepare. And three, with so many transfers and players from Division Two, Division Three, and NAIA levels moving up, you just don’t know what to expect,” Alford explained. “These teams are really good, so it’s difficult. That’s why I told the players I’m proud of them. Our defense was 30 points lower in efficiency today—that’s terrible. We did not guard the way we have to guard, and I hope our guys learn that lesson. But learning it in a win is much better than learning it in a loss. I’m proud of how they fought and got the win.”
Despite the challenges and late-game nerves, Nevada’s men’s basketball team showed resilience, earning a hard-fought win to build upon as the season moves forward.
https://www.mwcconnection.com/nevada-wolfpack-basketball/75369/nevada-tightly-hangs-onto-78-77-win-over-pacific