Sports

Nevada holds off Buffalo with stifling defense to earn spot in Shootout championship

Six months after winning the CBI postseason tournament, the Nevada men's basketball team has another championship in its sights.

The Wolf Pack's defense kept Buffalo off the scoreboard for the final four minutes of the game Friday and Nevada held on to defeat the Bulls 67-62 and earn a spot in the GCI Great Alaska Shootout championship game at the Alaska Airlines Center.

Iona beat Weber State 76-54 in the late semifinal.

"I thought we really struggled tonight from an offensive standpoint, but I thought defensively, especially in the second half, we did a really good job holding them to 36 percent (shooting) for the game," second-year Nevada coach Eric Musselman said.

Senior guard Marcus Marshall led Nevada with 23 points. Marshal is playing in his second Shootout — his first stint came with 2014 with Missouri State.

The Wolf Pack got some timely 3s from two players not known for their shooting abilities. Going into the game, forward Jordan Caroline and guard Lindsey Drew had combined for two 3-pointers, but the pair combined for five in Friday's win.

"Those 15 points were big," Buffalo coach Nate Oats said. "If they only hit one or two, we probably win the game."

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Drew went 3 of 6 from beyond the arc with his last triple giving Nevada a 59-58 lead with just under eight minutes left.

Marshall and Cameron Oliver followed with 3-pointers of their own and the Wolf Pack built a 67-60 lead with 5:15 remaining. Neither team scored for the rest of the game.

Oats pegged Buffalo's offensive woes on his team's lack of passing down the stretch.

"We got the lead, we're up and then for the last 10 minutes of the game we had zero assists," Oats said. "We quit moving the ball on offense for the last 10 minutes. That's been a problem of ours this year."

Blake Hamilton led the Bulls with 14 points two days after scoring 36 against UAA.

"We really targeted Hamilton coming off his huge game, and I thought we did a really good job of making his shots difficult as he went 3 of 18," Musselman said.

Saturday's championship between Nevada and Iona will be the second time the teams have played in less than a week. The Wolf Pack rallied for a 91-76 win over Iona on Sunday at Nevada.

Stephan Wiebe

Stephan Wiebe writes about all things Alaska sports.

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