UNLV falls to Indiana State in Diamond Head Challenge

UNLV, which trailed all game, kept fighting back.

The Rebels, though, didn’t have enough to overcome Indiana State’s Jordan Barnes.

Even a loose tooth suffered late in Sunday’s game didn’t slow Barnes. He made 11 of 15 shots and scored 28 points, including a key 3-pointer with 43 seconds left to beat the Rebels 84-79.

“Big-time players make big-time plays, and that’s what he did tonight,” UNLV coach Marvin Menzies said.

The loss Sunday at Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu denied the Rebels (6-5) a spot in the championship game of the Diamond Head Classic. They play Bucknell or Texas Christian in the consolation game at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday to close nonconference play. Bucknell and TCU played Sunday night.

Amauri Hardy scored 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting for the Rebels, and Joel Ntambwe had 21 points and 15 rebounds for his third consecutive double-double.

Indiana State (8-3), however, unexpectedly gave the taller Rebels trouble inside, with center and Las Vegas native Emondre Rickman making 6 of 9 shots and scoring a career-high 13 points. He previously scored 12 points three times and entered the game averaging 5.6 points.

“He was more physical than our guys,” Menzies said. “They ran a lot of stuff for him. They ran a lot of cross screens, some post actions early to get him a lot of touches. They really went to him, which surprised me a little bit, and our guys were just too loose with their hands.”

The Sycamores also shot 64 percent in the second half and 50.9 percent for the game.

UNLV had cut the Sycamores’ lead to a point with 1:10 left on two free throws by Hardy when Barnes delivered his clutch 3-pointer to put Indiana State in front 81-77.

The tone was set early when the Rebels missed 11 of their first 12 shots and fell into a 12-3 hole. They kept threatening to come back and overtake Indiana State, but never did and wound up shooting 36.9 percent.

“I can’t tell you how many layups we missed and how many putbacks we missed that we had been making,” Menzies said. “Today wasn’t our day.”

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