LAS VEGAS (AP) — Freshman Cameron Oliver had a career high 26 points with 15 rebounds and four blocked shots, one with 3.5 seconds to play to give Nevada a 64-62 win over New Mexico in the Mountain West quarterfinals on Thursday.
With a 63-62 lead, fifth-seeded Nevada’s Eric Cooper, an 85 percent foul shooter, missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 15.7 seconds left. Fourth-seeded New Mexico whipped the ball around to Cullen Neal in the right corner but Oliver closed quickly for the swat. Lindsey Drew leaped out of bounds to grab the ball and threw it back in to Cooper, who was fouled with a half-second left. He had a make and a miss and the clock ran out.
Sam Logwood put New Mexico ahead with a layup with 47.1 seconds remaining but Tyron Criswell quickly answered with a contested layup for Nevada at 36.5 seconds, the 16th lead change.
Criswell had 20 points for the Wolfpack (19-12), who faces league champion San Diego State in the semifinals on Friday.
Elijah Brown had 26 points for New Mexico (17-15) and Logwood had 16.
Leave a Reply