RENO — Last Sunday, Nevada embarked on a pivotal four-games-in-eight-days stretch.
This Sunday, the Pack walked off the Lawlor Events Center court with four-straight wins, and key sweeps of UNLV and Boise State after a 73-62 victory over the Broncos.
It was Nevada’s sixth-straight win over the Broncos (14-4, 10-3 MW) at Lawlor, and the Pack’s 10th in the last 11 meetings in the series. The Pack will now head to San Jose State for a two-game set, Feb. 13 and 15.
Grant Sherfield capped a statement week of his own with a career-high 29 points to go with eight assists Sunday.
Over the four Pack wins, he averaged 20.5 points and 9.25 assists while shooting an even 50.0 percent (30-for-60) from the field and 42.9 percent (9-for-21) from 3-point range.
He scored 16 points and went a perfect 7-for-7 from the line over the final 20 minutes, hitting four of those free throws in the final minute to ice the win for the Pack (14-7, 9-5 MW). As a team, Nevada once again used a hot second half to beat the Broncos, shooting 51.7 percent (15-for-29) over the final 20 minutes.
Nevada also got another outstanding performance from guard Desmond Cambridge, Jr., who finished with 17 points and put the Pack ahead for good at 41-39 with a dunk with under 16 minutes to go. From there, it was the Pack consistently stepping up to beat back Boise State’s comeback attempts, with Cambridge, Jr. twice snuffing out Bronco hopes with a bucket to end a run.
Sherfield got the Pack lead to nine at 63-54 with a layup with 3:33 to play, before Boise State began firing from deep and got triples from RJay Dennis and Emmanuel Akot on each of its next two possessions.
But it was Cambridge, Jr. who had an answer each time for the Pack. First, the Nashville native hit a jumper to answer Dennis’ triple, then connected on a step-back jumper in response to Akot’s trey, getting the Nevada lead back to seven at 67-60.
With just over a minute to go, Cambridge, Jr. would again come to the rescue, driving for a layup to restore the seven-point margin following a pair of free throws from Dennis.
The Pack defense would take over from there, forcing misses on Boise State’s final three possessions while Sherfield wrapped it up from the line. For the second half, Nevada limited the Broncos to just eight field goals and a 29.6-percent showing from the field, while overall the Broncos shot just 34.6 percent (18-for-52).
Forward K.J. Hymes was a major part of that defensive effort, making a key block of Mladen Armus which led to a transition three for Tré Coleman that made it 44-39 Nevada early in the second half.
That helped Nevada keep its momentum from the end of the first half, in which the Pack outscored the Broncos, 21-11, over the half’s final 11 minutes, that run was capped by Sherfield’s buzzer-beating triple that sent the Pack into the locker room with a 32-31 lead.
Warren Washington added a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds to the Pack effort Sunday. Boise State, meanwhile, was led by 17 points from Derrick Alston and 13 from Akot.
Nevada travels to San Jose State on Saturday and Monday for a two-game series with the Spartans at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively.
