Adams to thank for UNLV win

“I knew I had to do a little more than what I usually do,” he said.

Adams posted the second double-double of his career Saturday, finishing with 23 points and 10 rebounds to lift the Rebels to a 73-65 victory over Wyoming before 5,547 at the Arena-Auditorium.

And he did it despite shrinking two inches from his listed height of 6 feet.

“It always feels good to get a double-double, because I’m only 5-10,” Adams said.

UNLV (20-6) reached the 20-win mark for the second consecutive season, and remained in sole possession of second place in the Mountain West Conference at 9-3.

“It’s even more important at this point to get a conference road win,” Rebels coach Lon Kruger said. “We’ve got a lot of work left to do.”

UNLV has four conference games left in the regular season, with the next coming Tuesday at home against San Diego State.

One week after a 26-point loss at Brigham Young, Adams made certain the Rebels rebounded and improved their postseason chances.

Three UNLV starters were at less than full strength — juniors Joe Darger and Rene Rougeau were ill, and senior point guard Curtis Terry was dealing with a groin injury.

“With a couple guys sick and Curtis not 100 percent, I knew I had to do more,” said Adams, who shot 8-for-15 from the field, 4-for-6 on free throws and had four assists in 39 minutes.

Rougeau shot 8-for-12 and totaled 16 points and five rebounds. Terry compiled nine points, six rebounds and five assists in 38 minutes.

“Curtis, given that he hadn’t practiced for a couple days with that groin injury, he toughed it out pretty good,” Kruger said.

Rougeau and Terry each scored six points during an 18-6 second-half run that created a comfortable margin. Adams’ jumper capped the spurt and put the Rebels up 60-43 with 10 minutes remaining.

Adams and Terry each made three 3-pointers as UNLV shot 10-for-25 from behind the arc.

Sophomore forward Matt Shaw came off the bench to make two 3-pointers and produce 12 points and four blocked shots.

“This game was huge,” Shaw said. “I think we knew that coming in, and Coach stressed it all week.”

Both teams were sluggish at the outset, but Shaw made a 3-pointer and Mareceo Rutledge converted a three-point play to help push the Rebels to a 34-26 halftime lead.

“When I was sitting on the bench watching the starters, I saw that we weren’t making too many shots,” Shaw said. “So I wanted to put some pressure on myself to come in and make open shots.

“We realized that we weren’t playing the way we usually play. We talked about it at the first TV timeout, and said we had to pick up our energy. I think we did.”

In the first half, Darger, Terry and Corey Bailey shot a combined 0-for-12. Adams and Shaw compensated by teaming for 22 points on 7-for-11 shooting.

“I thought Wink made a lot of good plays,” Kruger said. “Matt gave us a big lift by knocking down some shots.”

Junior guard Brandon Ewing scored 20 points to lead the Cowboys (10-16, 3-10). Ewing gave credit to Adams for carrying UNLV to victory.

“Wink has been in these type of tough games, and he knows what it takes to play in big-time games,” Ewing said. “He knew he had to show up or his team would have lost this one.”

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2907.

UNLV 73

Wyoming 65

UNLV Min FG-A FT-A R A PF TP

Bailey 21 1-7 0-0 2 1 2 2

Terry 38 3-9 0-0 6 5 1 9

Darger 27 2-6 0-0 3 0 3 5

Adams 39 8-15 4-6 10 4 2 23

Rougeau 33 8-12 0-0 5 2 2 16

Rutledge 11 2-5 1-1 3 1 4 6

Wallace 10 0-2 0-0 1 1 3 0

Cage 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0

Shaw 18 4-7 2-2 2 0 2 12

TOTALS 200 28-63 7-9 38 14 20 73

Field goals–44.4%. Free throws–77.8%.

Three-point goals–10-25 (Adams 3-6, Terry 3-8, Shaw 2-3, Rutledge 1-2, Darger 1-3, Bailey 0-1, Wallace 0-2). Team rebounds–6. Blocked shots–8 (Shaw 4, Darger 3, Rougeau). Turnovers–9 (Adams 5, Terry 2, Shaw, Rougeau). Steals–4 (Shaw 2, Terry, Rougeau).

WYOMING Min FG-A FT-A R A PF TP

Dermody 27 4-7 2-3 4 0 0 13

Johnson 32 6-16 3-4 8 1 1 16

Linskens 23 0-9 0-0 6 0 0 0

Jones 34 2-5 2-4 4 3 3 6

Ewing 39 5-10 8-9 2 6 3 20

Geis 11 0-2 0-0 2 0 2 0

Taylor 14 3-4 2-2 2 2 2 8

Platt 9 1-2 0-0 1 0 2 2

Nelson 11 0-1 0-1 3 1 1 0

TOTALS 200 21-56 17-23 38 13 14 65

Field goals–37.5%. Free throws–73.9%.

Three-point goals–6-18 (Dermody 3-4, Ewing 2-5, Johnson 1-2, Platt 0-1, Geis 0-2, Linskens 0-4). Team rebounds–6. Blocked shots–3 (Dermody, Linskens, Nelson). Turnovers–10 (Nelson 3, Ewing 2, Platt 2, Johnson, Taylor, Jones). Steals–4 (Taylor 2, Linskens, Ewing).

A–5,547. Officials–Lonnie Dixon, Winston Stith, Larry Spaulding. Technical fouls–UNLV: None. Wyoming: None.

UNLV 34 39 — 73

Wyoming 26 39 — 65