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Nevada Opens Mountain West Play At Air Force Wednesday
Jan. 7, 2013 Nevada at Air Force: Nevada (9-5) will look to get back on track after having its season-high five-game win streak snapped at Oregon. The Wolf Pack opens Mountain West play for the first time at Air Force (8-4) on Wednesday at 6 p.m. PT. The Falcons have dropped their last two games. Wednesday's game is the MW opener for both schools. Wednesday, 6:00 p.m. PT TELEVISION: none AIR FORCE FALCONS: Air Force is (8-4) led by Dave Pilipovich who is in his first full season leading the Falcons basketball program. Pilipovich has a career mark of 10-10. The Falcons have the top scorer in the Mountain West in senior guard Michael Lyons (6-5) who averages 19.6 points per game. Lyons ranks 26th nationally in scoring. The Newport News, Va. product also tops the team in rebounding at 5.2 per game. Senior center Taylor Broekhuis (6-10) also averages double figures at 10.6 points per game and is grabbing 4.3 rebounds per game. Todd Fletcher, a 6-2 senior guard is third in the MW dishing out 4.1 assists per game and is contributing 9.3 points per outing. Fletcher is seventh in the country in assist/turnover ratio. Offensively Air Force averages 74.8 points per game and holds opponents to 66.4, a margin of plus 8.4. From the field they shoot 48.1 percent and their opponents 45.1. From 3-point range they shoot 39 percent and hold opponents to 34 percent shooting from behind the arc. The Falcons are being slightly outrebounded 31.9-31.7. Dominic Artis scored 10 for Oregon (11-2), which has won all 10 games at Matthew Knight Arena this season. Emory, who started the second half in place of injured forward Arsalan Kazemi, scored nine of his 13 points after halftime. His 3-pointer with 9:26 to play snapped an 8-0 run by the Wolf Pack which had cut the Ducks' double-digit lead to 39-33. Emory's shot sparked a 14-4 run which put Oregon up 53-37 with 6:05 to play. Despite missing his first nine shots from the field, Deonte Burton scored 12 to lead Nevada (9-6), which had won five straight. Kazemi left the game with 2:01 left in the first half after a collision under the Nevada basket. MOUNTAIN WEST RANKS THIRD IN CONFERENCE RPI: The Mountain West has the third-best conference RPI through games of January 6, trailing the Big Ten and Big East. In the AP poll San Diego State is 16th while UNLV and New Mexico are 24th and 25th respectively. Wyoming is receiving votes. SDSU is 15th in the USA Today Coaches Poll and UNLV comes in at 19. Wyoming appears in the poll at 25. New Mexico and Colorado State are receiving votes. In the five games the Pack averaged 74.6 points per game and allowed 65.8. The Wolf Pack also held a plus seven rebound margin in the five games and in three contest outrebounded opponents by double figures. In three of the games the Pack defense held opponents to less than 40 percent shooting. In back-to-back games the Pack held opponents to season scoring lows as Cal Poly totaled 56 points and USF scored 51 the next game. In the final two games of the streak Nevada shot better than 50 percent including a season best 57.1 percent against Yale. Malik Story (18 ppg), Deonte Burton (11.4 ppg) and Jerry Evans, Jr. (10 ppg) averaged double figures in the five wins with Jordan Burris close behind at 9.2 points per contest. NEVADA POSTS PERFECT HOMESTAND: Nevada posted a perfect homestand winning all four games of as season-high homestretch. The Pack defeated Cal Poly (69-56), San Francisco (59-51), Cal State University San Marcos (84-74) and Yale (85-75). FIVE IN DOUBLE FIGURES: For the first time this season five Nevada players scored in double figures in an 84-74 victory over Cal State University San Marcos. Three of the five players reached double figures off the bench led by Jerry Evans, Jr. who tied for game-high honors and scored a season-high 18 points. The 18 points is one point off his career high of 19 set last season against San Jose State. He made eight-of-11 shots from the field including two-of-three from behind the arc. Starters Malik Story and Cole Huff scored 14 and 10 points respectively. Junior forward Devonte Elliott tied his career-high with 13 points. Elliott scored 13 points for the first time earlier this season at Marshall. It was his fourth double figure scoring game of the season. Freshman point guard Marqueze Coleman also tied his career-high with 11 points off the bench. Coleman's first 11-point game was against Green Bay in November. At Washington the Pack held the Huskies to 39.7 percent shooting. Cal Poly shot 32.8 percent against the Pack which is the low by an opponent this season. San Francisco shot 34 percent before CSUSM ended the streak. Yale was held to 38.6 percent shooting in the Pack's 85-75 victory over the Bulldogs. In the Pack's last game at Oregon the Ducks were held under 40 percent but defeated Nevada 56-43. In the first game of the season UC Irvine shot 39.4 percent giving the Pack six games of holding opponents under 40 percent shooting this season. Evans had started 56 consecutive games but was averaging 5.3 points and 3.4 rebounds in the first seven games. His high point total was nine and he was shooting just 35.9 percent. In the last seven games he is shooting 54.7 percent from the field. In those seven games he is scoring 9.6 points per game and grabbing 6.3 rebounds per contest. In his first game off the bench he scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds at Pacific. Against Cal Poly he finished with a career-high 14 rebounds which is tied for the fifth best total in the MW this season. In the Pack's 84-74 victory over Cal State University San Marcos he tied for game-high honors with 18 points which is his season-high and one point off his career-high of 19 set against San Jose State last season. The lineup change has benefited Burris as his production has increased since being inserted in the starting lineup. In the first seven games of the season he averaged 6.0 points and 2.9 rebounds. He made his first start this season at Pacific with his previous start coming his freshman year on Dec. 11, 2010 versus San Francisco State. At Pacific he responded with 14 points and a career-high nine rebounds. The 14 points is one off his career high of 15 set his freshman year versus Pepperdine. Starting the last seven games he is averaging 10.1 points and 5.7 rebounds. He scored 13 points versus Cal Poly and followed that with 11 against San Francisco marking his first back-to-back double digit scoring games. In his seven starts he has scored in double figures five times and led the Pack in rebound four times. Coming into this year he scored in double figures just twice, once as a freshman and sophomore. He is shooting 45.3 percent from the field and has six blocks in the last seven games. Since reaching 1,000 career points the two have surpassed 1,100 points and are nearing 1,200 in a Pack uniform. After 81 consecutive games starting in the Nevada backcourt the duo are separated by 19 points. Story's 35 point game against Yale moved him past Burton into 17th place on Nevada's career scoring list and he now has 1,193 points, seven short of 1,200 for his Pack career. Ken "Tree" Green (1981-83) is 19 in front of Story with 1,212 points. Burton is 18th with his 1,174 career points. Since splitting the starting position at the five spot the last seven games the two have combined to average 9.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. As a duo they are shooting 49 (27-of-55) percent from the field. Panzer is scoring 4.9 points and grabbing 4.7 rebounds per game in the last seven contests and Elliott is also averaging 4.9 points and grabbing 4.0 rebounds per outing. Twice Elliott has scored in double figures off the bench in the last seven games, 11 at Washington and he tied his career-high with 13 versus Cal State University San Marcos. Four times this season Elliott has scored in double figures after not reaching double digits his first two seasons in the Silver & Blue. He scored 10 points against Green Bay and topped with a 13 point outing at Marshall. Coming off the bench for the first time this season at Washington he scored 11 points then tied his career-high with 13 points in the CSUSM victory to give him four double figure scoring games in the Silver & Blue. In the Green Bay contest he played a career-high 30 minutes. From the field he is shooting 54.1 (33-of-61) percent. For the season he averages 5.9 points per game and is fifth in rebounding at 4.0 per contest. Panzer posted his career-high of 18 points in the Pack's 80-77 victory over Cal State Fullerton (11/16/12) in the first game of the World Vision Classic. The 6-9 forward made six-of-10 shots from the field which included two-of-three from behind the arc. He was also solid at the free throw line making four of his five attempts. On the season he is averaging 5.6 points per game and is second on the team with 4.4 rebounds per game. Burton scored in double figures in eight consecutive games until finishing with four against Cal Poly. In three of the last five games he has not reached double figures. In the eight game stretch he averaged 21.5 points per game. In back-to-back games he scored 28 at Marshall and 26 versus UC Davis. In the last five games of the eight game streak he scored 25 or more points four times including a season-high 29 in the Pack's 76-73 victory at Washington. Story scored a career-high 35 in the Pack's 85-75 victory over Yale and has scored 20 or more points in four other games. He had a stretch of scoring in double figures in seven consecutive games until totaling seven against San Francisco. Following the USF game he has reached double figures in the last three games including the 35 versus Yale. In 11-of-14 games he has scored in double figures. He had back-to-back 25 point games versus Southern Utah and at Marshall then followed that with 23 at home against UC Davis and 19 in the Drake game. On the season he is making 35.4 percent of his three-pointers to rank seventh in the MW and his 2.5 made per game is fifth in the conference. The duo combined to score 53 of Nevada's 82 points at Marshall, 49 of the Pack's 84 points versus UCD, 31-of-66 against Drake, 37-of-72 at Pacific, 44-of-76 at Washington and 41-of-85 in the Yale victory. In 10-of-14 games this season one of the two has posted a game high in points. Burton has six game highs to his credit and Story four. Story surpassed 200 career three-pointers made in the Pack's game against Yale and his 205 ranks third in school history. Next on the list is Terrance Green's (1999-03) 209 made in 119 games played. In 81 games Story has attempted 522 shots from behind the arc which is third most at Nevada. Green is second with 592 attempts in his four seasons and 119 games played. Story has been successful on 39.3 (205-of-522) percent of his three-point attempts which is ninth at Nevada. Last season Story attempted a Pack single season record 226 three-pointers and made 94 for a percentage of 41.6. The 41.6 percent ranked 24th in NCAA I and his 2.69 made per game was 37th. The 94 three-pointers made a year ago are second most in Pack history behind Jimmy Carroll's (1996-97) 96. As a sophomore he made 76 three-pointers which is the fourth best season in Pack history. See page six of this release for Nevada's three-point records. In the preseason MW media poll Nevada was picked to finish fifth. San Diego State, UNLV, New Mexico and Colorado State placed ahead of the Wolf Pack. The Pack left the WAC in style winning its sixth regular season title in 12 years in the league. Nevada went 13-1 in WAC play last season. Jerry Evans, Jr. has added punch off the bench the last seven games after starting 56 in a row. Evans has come off the bench the last six games and is scoring 9.6 points and grabbing 6.3 rebounds per game. Twice he has scored in double figures off the bench with the latest being a season-high 18 against Cal State University San Marcos. The 18 points led the Pack and tied for game-high honors. Cole Huff averaged 7.4 points off the bench but was moved to the starting lineup the last seven games. Twice he scored 11 points off the bench this season versus Cal State Fullerton and Southern Utah. Jordan Burris was averaging 6 points off the bench but has also started the last seven games. Burris scored 11 points off the bench against UC Davis. In the Pack's game at Washington, Devonte Elliott came off the bench for the first time this season and scored 11 points. Elliott tied his career-high with 13 points off the bench against CSUSM. He is averaging 5.7 points and 4.7 rebounds in his six games off the bench. Marqueze Coleman (4.0) and Ali Fall (1.5) have been productive off the Pack bench in the early season. Coleman scored 11 points against Green Bay and CSUSM. Fall totaled 10 versus Southern Utah. Mr. clutch has come through three times this season in front of the home faithful. In the World Vision Classic with Nevada trailing CS Fullerton 77-75 on Nov. 16, he drove the lane, scored and converted the free throw after being fouled to put the Pack up 78-77 with 14 seconds to play. It was not all offensive as he blocked a potential game winning layup at the other end of the court then sealed the victory with two more free throws to give him the last five points in a 80-77 Pack victory. He delivered the next night against Green Bay hitting a game-winning three-pointer from deep behind the arc with 2 seconds on the clock to give the Pack the 71-69 victory over the Phoenix. This coming after GB had just gone ahead 69-68 on a three-pointer. Burton's three-pointer gave him exactly 1,000 career points in the Silver & Blue. His most recent game winner came versus UC Davis on Nov. 28 as he hit a jumper in the lane with 3 seconds on the clock to give Nevada an 84-83 victory over the Aggies. He finished with a game-high 26 points. The 71 wins is the ninth most wins by a Pack head coach in school history. Trent Johnson (1999-04) is eighth with his 79-74 mark. Carter was Johnson's assistant all five seasons that he led the Pack basketball program. Page seven of this release has a list of Nevada's coach records. In 100 years there has been 17 coaches that led the Wolf Pack basketball program and three coached just one season. Nevada's overall record stands at 1219-1095. The junior was also named the most under-the-radar player CBSSports and ranked as the 35th best point guard by CBSSports.com. Honors are not something new to the Los Angeles native as he was the 2011 Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, 2012 WAC Player of the Year and a 2012 AP honorable mention All-America selection to name just a few of his many honors.
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