RENO, Nev. -- Nevada coach Mark Fox can't say enough about
Nick Fazekas' abilities.
Fazekas scored 19 points to become the first player in school
history to top 2,000 career points and the 25th-ranked Wolf Pack
beat St. Mary's 76-58 Tuesday night.
"He's been the perfect example of what a student athlete should
be," Fox said.
"He goes to school. He's going to get a degree. He plays the
game the right way, works at it in his free time and the offseason.
He's being rewarded for his efforts and he's a talented kid."
Marcelus Kemp went 4-for-4 from 3-point range and finished with
20 points for Nevada (8-1), which outscored St. Mary's 13-1 in the
first 4 minutes of the second half to bounce back from a home loss
to UNLV on Saturday.
Diamon Simpson had 18 points and Brett Collins 16 points and
nine rebounds for the Gaels (6-5).
Fazekas, a 6-foot-11 senior who entered leading the NCAA in
rebounding with 14.1 per game, became the 12th player in the
Western Athletic Conference to score 2,000 career points and just
the fifth to top 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
Fazekas now has 2,005 points. He also had five rebounds to move
into second on Nevada's career rebounding list with 1,018 rebounds,
passing Edgar Jones, who had 1,016 from 1975-79.
"I didn't expect to do that when I first came to Nevada," said
Fazekas, who considered forgoing his senior year to enter the NBA
draft but decided against it. "For me to pass all these records
and put my name in the record book, it feels good."
Nevada opened the second half with a 16-3 run, including two
3-pointers by Kemp, one by Denis Ikovlev and a three-point play by
Fazekas for a 46-26 lead with 14:45 remaining.
St. Mary's pulled to 48-35 on Wayne Hunter's basket off a
rebound but Fazekas answered with an 18-footer. He pushed the lead
to 55-38, scoring inside off a lob pass from Kemp for his 2,001st
point at 8:50.
"Our guards need to play better basketball and we need to take
better shots. We have to be able to take care of the ball better
than we did,' St. Mary's coach Randy Bennett said.
Ikovlev finished with a career-high 10 points and Kyle Shiloh
nine for Nevada, which shot 55 percent from the field. The Wolf
Pack also hit 10-of-14 from 3-point range (71 percent) after making
only 34 percent of their shots and one of 15 3-pointers in
Saturday's 58-49 loss to the rival Runnin' Rebels.
"We were more mentally ready to go today," Ikovlev said. "Our
shots just dropped tonight."
The Wolf Pack scored eight unanswered points on back-to-back
3-pointers by Shiloh and JaVale McGee and a 12-foot jumper by
Fazekas to take a 15-7 lead early.
Fueled by Lyndale Burleson's steals on three consecutive
possessions, they went on a 12-2 run capped by Fazekas' 18-footer
from the baseline to go ahead 30-16 with 3:43 left in the first
half. But St. Mary's closed the half with a 7-0 run, including
Collins' 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut it to 30-23 at halftime.
Nevada's starting point guard Ramon Sessions left the game for
good with 15:52 left after he appeared to take a knee to the thigh
during a scramble for a loose ball. Fox said he did not know the
extent of Sessions' injury.