UNLV Runnin' Rebels Derail The Boise State Broncos On The Road In OT Win

The UNLV Runnin' Rebels pull off a huge road win over the red-hot Boise State Broncos in overtime.

UNLV Runnin' Rebels guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (0) and center Emmanuel Stephen (34) celebrate after the buzzer sounds as Stanford Cardinal forward/center Oskar Giltay (15) looks on in the second half at Maples Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images | David Gonzales-Imagn Images

The UNLV Runnin' Rebels men's basketball team pulled off another huge overtime win on Friday night on the road over the Boise State Broncos. UNLV won the game by a score of 86 - 83, after trailing by 23 in this game by a score of 32 - 9. This was a massive win for the Rebels over a hot Boise State team that had won seven of their last eight games. They were able to cut the lead down to 11 points by the half and force the game into overtime before pulling out the three-point victory.

With this third-consecutive win, the Rebels move to 8 - 6 in the Mountain West Conference standings and pull ahead of the now 7 - 7 Broncos and into sixth place. They are now four games out of first place and just half a game behind the Grand Canyon Lopes for fifth place. Grand Canyon plays the San Jose Spartans on Saturday afternoon in a game they should win easily. The Rebels also climbed back above .500 overall to 13 - 12. Following the monstrous road comeback, UNLV head coach Josh Pastner spoke about the win.

"That was a great win," Pastner said. "I think Boise State was playing as well as anyone in the league in these last seven or eight games, and better than anyone west of the Mississippi. They are very well coached. Leon Rice is one of the best coaches and they are a very good basketball team. But that was a great, gritty, tough win. Being down 23 and for us to stay together, stay connected, fight, scrap, claw, kick, whatever we had to do to find a way to come back to win that game was awesome in a really hard place to win at. Just so proud of our young men."

Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn looked like a superstar in this game. The junior guard poured in 36 points on 13 - 22 shooting, 6 - 12 from beyond the three-point arc, and 4 - 4 from the free-throw line. He also chipped in with three rebounds, one assist, and two steals. Two other players scored in double digits in this one, with Kimani Hamilton having another solid performance with 13 points, and Tyrin Jones came off the bench with 12 points of his own.

Next up for the Rebels are the Colorado State Rams on Wednesday night, back at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

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