UNLV Running Rebels Drop Fourth In A Row Against Fresno State Bulldogs

The UNLV Runnin' Rebels dropped their fourth game in a row on Tuesday night on the road against the Fresno State Bulldogs.

UNLV Runnin' Rebels guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (0) dribbles upcourt against the Stanford Cardinal 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 suffered a devastating loss on Tuesday night on the road against the Fresno State Bulldogs. Fresno State overcame a 13-point second-half deficit to win this game with a buzzer-beating three-pointer by a score of 98 - 96. This was the fourth consecutive loss for the Rebels and definitely the most heartbreaking of this losing streak. With this loss, UNLV drops below .500 in the Mountain West Conference at 5 - 6 and 10 - 12 overall. That leaves them in eighth place as they free-fall to 4.5 games from the top of the standings.

Fresno State climbs to 5 - 6 in Mountain West play, and gets back to .500 overall at 11 - 11. It was a big win for the Bulldogs and a brutal loss for the Rebels. After the loss, UNLV head coach Josh Pastner spoke about the heartbreaker.

"Tough pill to swallow and a tough loss," Pastner said. "It's really disappointing as we had a chance to win and didn't get it done. We just kept fouling and they kept on getting to the free throw line. I knew going into those last six seconds, we had Naas (Cunningham) with four fouls, and we didn't have anyone else to put in case he fouled out. We wanted to foul. That's not on the players, that's on me."

The most eye-popping stat in this game is the fact that the Rebels had five players foul out of this game, and they allowed the Bulldogs to make 32 - 44 free throws. UNLV also took 36 free throws of their own, but only made 25 of them. There is no doubt that this was the difference in the game.

Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn led the Rebels in scoring, pouring in 28 points on 10 - 13 shooting, 4 - 6 from beyond the three-point line, and 4 - 4 from the free-throw stripe. He also chipped in with three rebounds, four assists, and one steal.

Guard Howie Fleming Jr was the only starter not to foul out. He scored 23 points on 9 - 12 points, with nine rebounds, four assists, and six steals.

Next up for the Rebels are the Grand Canyon Lopes at the Thomas & Mack Center back in Las Vegas. This will be a tough game for a reeling UNLV squad. The Lopes are currently 8 - 3 in conference play and 15 - 7 overall.

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