Lexington Thomas leads another strong rushing effort for UNLV

UNLV opened enough eyes a week ago when the Rebels rushed for 308 yards against Southern California at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

They almost hit that mark by halftime of Saturday’s game against Texas-El Paso at Sam Boyd Stadium.

UNLV ran for 414 yards in the 52-24 victory.

Senior Lexington Thomas had 115 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries in the first 30 minutes before finishing wtih 127 yards on 17 rushes before taking off most of the second half. At USC, he finished with 136 yards and a TD on 14 attempts.

His 14 career 100-yard games trail only Mike Thomas’ 17 in 1973 and 1974 and Tim Cornett’s 16 from 2011 to 2014.

The Rebels involved three running backs against UTEP. Charles Williams rushed 12 times for 80 yards, and Xzaviar Campbell carried 10 times for 72 yards.

It was a little more democratic than a week before when Campbell and Evans Owens carried four times each for the game and Williams once. UNLV coach Tony Sanchez promised the carries would be more evenly distributed for the rest of the season.

N.J. hoops recruit part of Boyd crowd

Josh Pierre-Louis, a 6-foot 2-inch point guard from New Jersey, was in Las Vegas on Saturday on an official visit with UNLV’s basketball team. He watched the Rebels in the evening at Sam Boyd.

Pierre-Louis, who attends Roselle (New Jersey) Catholic High School, is a three-star recruit, according to Rivals and ESPN. He also reportedly has been offered scholarships by Georgia and Oklahoma State.

For those interested in reading tea leaves, he retweeted UNLV’s recruit Josh Green’s final six list on Aug. 13 that included the Rebels.

Pierre-Louis averaged 8.8 points and 2.0 assists last season.

Consecutive PAT team record set

UNLV senior Evan Pantels’ extra point after the game’s first touchdown was his 75th consecutive made point-after try.

That broke the previous school record, set by Kyle Watson in 2008 and 2009.

Pantels began his streak in 2016.

He also is the Rebels’ record holder for field-goal percentage in a season, converting 92.9 percent (13 of 14) two years ago.

First-half odds and ends

— UNLV got its first takeaway of the season on linebacker Javin White’s interception late in the second quarter. The Rebels wound up with three takeaways for the game, with the other two coming on fumbles./

—  The Miners had the unusual two defensive holding penalties on running plays. One was accepted and the other negated because of offsetting penalties.

— UTEP also had three consecutive plays in which players were forced to leave the field because of equipment malfunctions.

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