Rashad Vaughan scored 18 points and teammate Jelan Kendrick added 13 in leading UNLV to a 75-61 win against South Dakota in front of a capacity crowd of 3,250 at the Sanford Pentagon Saturday.
It was the first meeting between the two programs and the team’s first trip to the Pentagon.
Brandon Bos led all scorers with 19 points and led four South Dakota players who scored in double figures. Tyler Larson scored 14 points. Eric Robertson came off the bench to score a season-high 12 points and had a career-best nine boards. Casey Kasperbauer had 10.
UNLV guard Patrick McCaw got a steal and hit a running 3-pointer at the first-half horn that gave the Runnin’ Rebels a 42-31 halftime lead. It capped a 14-2 run by UNLV in the final five minutes of the first half.
Vaughn, the Mountain West Preseason Freshman of the Year, had 14 points on 5 of 10 shooting in the opening stanza and finished 7 of 16 from the field. UNLV scored 20 points off 13 South Dakota turnovers in the first half. For the game, the Rebels shot 47 percent from the field (28-59) and made 14 of 24 free throws (.583).
South Dakota (3-8) had made 24 three-pointers in its prior two games, but were 2 of 17 from beyond the arc Saturday. The Coyotes outrebounded the Rebels 38-33, shot 42 percent from the floor (25 of 59) and made 9 of 12 free throws (.750).
UNLV (6-2) led by as many as 17 in the second half. South Dakota crawled within eight points at 69-61 with two minutes to go, but went scoreless from that point forward.
The Coyotes return to the court Thursday at home against Montana State in a 7:30 p.m. tip and as part of a USD women’s and men’s doubleheader. It will be South Dakota’s third home game this season.
