The UNLV men’s basketball team completed a rare season sweep of San Diego State with a 74-67 victory Tuesday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Julian Rishwain scored a career-high 26 points for the Rebels. The guard was honored along with guard Jailen Bedford, forward Jalen Hill and center Isaiah Cottrell in UNLV’s senior night ceremony before the game.
Junior guard Jaden Henley added 17 points for the Rebels (17-13, 11-8 Mountain West), who are locked into the No. 6 season for next week’s conference tournament.
UNLV has won three straight and six of seven, playing the past four games without injured leading scorer Dedan Thomas Jr.
Senior guard Nick Boyd scored 19 for the Aztecs (20-8, 13-6).
UNLV pulled off a 76-68 upset win at San Diego State on Jan. 18, giving the Rebels their first season sweep of the Aztecs since the 2012-13 season.
The visiting team started with a 14-7 advantage, but the Rebels showed they were prepared to battle. The lead was traded six times before San Diego State entered halftime on top 34-32.
The Aztecs’ early lead was powered by a 7-0 run amid a scoring drought that lasted 3:38 for the Rebels.
Freshman center Pape N’Diaye put the Rebels back on the board with a putback layup, then Rishwain and Henley resurrected the Rebels with back-to-back 3-pointers.
UNLV coach Kevin Kruger garnered his second technical foul in as many games with 8:48 left in the first half after expressing frustration that Henley didn’t draw a foul call on a loose ball turnover.
From then, UNLV had four turnovers in a 4:26 span as the Aztecs held onto a 25-22 advantage
Rishwain gave the Rebels a 28-25 advantage with a 3-pointer off a San Diego State turnover in the last three minutes of the period.
That was short-lived, as the Aztecs regained the advantage at halftime.
Three minutes into the second half, a big dunk from junior center Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry put the Rebels ahead 41-39.
After a 3-pointer from Rishwain, Hill snagged a defensive rebound that allowed Henley to send it to Cherry for a massive alley-oop dunk that propelled the crowd to its feet and gave UNLV a 46-42 lead.
A three-minute scoring drought with four turnovers followed for the Rebels. That allowed the Aztecs to take a 48-46 lead before things went from bad to worse for UNLV.
Henley was called for an offensive foul after he appeared to attempt to wave away a reaching defender at the top of key, and officials bit on the subsequent flop.
It was Henley’ s fourth foul, leading him to be subbed out with 12:24 left to play. He apparently took too long to get off the court, as the officials went on to hit the Rebels’ bench with an administrative technical foul. He didn’t return until the 3:20 mark.
The Aztecs had a 50-48 lead after the free throws, but the Rebels still wouldn’t go away.
Bedford had a layup and 3-pointer to put UNLV ahead 53-50 midway through the second half, and the Rebels never trailed again.
UNLV will finish the regular season at conference leader New Mexico (24-6, 16-3) at 7 p.m. Friday.
Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.