Nevada Defeats Irvine, 71-67, for First Big West Victory

Nevada joined the Big West Conference this season and lost its first two league games by an average of 21 points.

Then the Wolf Pack met UC Irvine, a team that is struggling terribly, and handed the Anteaters their fifth loss in a row. Nevada walked out of the Bren Center Saturday with a 71-67 victory in front of 2,002.

“We’re not in a very good situation right now,” Irvine Coach Rod Baker said. “This is really a tough time for us.”

Irvine (2-8, 0-3) was without its second-leading scorer, Jeff Von Lutzow, who did not dress for the game because of a sprained big left toe. Another starter, LaDay Smith, did not start for disciplinary reasons and was hampered by a nagging foot injury. That essentially left the offense up to Keith Stewart and point guard Lloyd Mumford.

Stewart scored 25 points and made seven three-pointers against a Nevada zone that shut off Mumford’s penetration and kept the inside game quiet. Problem was, it took Stewart 25 shots to get his seven field goals. His 21 shots from three-point range were a school record.

Mumford scored 12 points on four-of-17 shooting, and made only one of eight from three-point range.

Irvine shot 31.7%, making only 20 field goals (11 three-pointers). There were few contributions from anyone other than Stewart, Mumford and reserve guard Todd Whitehead, who gave Irvine a boost with 14 points, making five of seven shots.

Ric Herrin led Nevada with 16 points.

Irvine led at the half, 27-24, but the Anteaters shot only 29.2%, making seven field goals. Nevada (6-4, 1-2) was worse, making seven of 28 (25%).