Late goaltending call gives UNLV 78-76 win over Colorado State

Mbacke Diong’s tip-in bounced lightly on the rim before falling off, and UNLV looked as if it was headed to overtime Wednesday night.

But Colorado State’s Nico Carvacho had reached up through the net, bringing an automatic goal-tending call with a second left.

That allowed UNLV, which never led in the second half until that final second, to exit the Thomas & Mack Center with a 78-76 victory over the Rams in the Mountain West opener.

“It was not pretty, but it doesn’t have to be when you get to conference,” Rebels coach Marvin Menzies said. “It’s just got to be effective. You’ve got to show grit every game, and I thought we did that. You’ve got to show fight every game, and I thought we did that.”

This was the first conference-opening victory for UNLV (7-6) since the 2013-14 season. Colorado State (5-9) lost for the eighth time in nine games.

But the Rams appeared well on their way to victory, especially with Carvacho tearing up the Rebels inside. He scored 28 points and grabbed 20 rebounds, but Carvacho’s last points came with seven minutes left.

“It was a Carvacho show the first half,” Menzies said of the center, who had 18 points and 12 rebounds by halftime.

That late defensive effort on Carvacho gave the Rebels a chance to make a last run, and that’s exactly what they did. UNLV ended the game with a 16-5 spurt to erase a 71-62 deficit with 5:23 left.

“We focused on getting stops,” UNLV guard Kris Clyburn said.

The Rebels first caught Colorado State when Diong made a free throw with 2:03 left to even the score at 73-73. Then after J.D. Paige’s driving layup and free throw for a three-point play with 1:40 remaining, UNLV again tied the game when Noah Robotham dropped in a 3-pointer with 1:26 to play.

Both teams had chances to take the lead in the final minute before the final sequence that resulted in goaltending.

“That was a great effort by our guys,” UNLV guard Amauri Hardy said. “They all crashed the glass. We only had one chance. I pretty much drove. I was looking to attack, maybe finish or get a foul call.”

Clyburn (17 points, 12 rebounds) and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua (13 points, 12 rebounds) each had double-doubles for the Rebels. Joel Ntambwe tied Clyburn for the team high with 17 points, and Hardy and Robotham each had 11.

In addition to Carvacho, Paige scored 20 points for the Rams.

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Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.