FSM Essential Recap: UNLV vs St. Katherine - Game 8

Photo Credit: UNLV Athletics

FSM Essential Recap: UNLV vs St. Katherine – Game 8

UNLV (2-6) vs. St. Katherine (0-10)

UNLV dominates St. Katherine for their second victory of the season.

The Runnin’ Rebels are back to winning form after destroying the St. Katherine Firebirds by a score of 95-34. UNLV was the superior team throughout the whole contest as the Firebirds really did not stand a chance in this battle of NCAA Division I and NAIA schools.

Going into the game, UNLV knew it may not be the toughest contest of the season for them. However, they still went into the game ready to battle and took the Firebirds seriously. They played exceptionally well improving their record to 2-6 while St. Katherine falls to 0-10.

UNLV nearly drops 100 points in win.

As mentioned in the preview article, this game gave UNLV a chance to use a lot more players in the game and really see the depth in their roster. The Runnin’ Rebels utilized a total of 11 players in the game on Tuesday, the most they have used all season. Players such as freshman Donovan Yap and junior Trey Hurlburt got more minutes than they usually get.

Cheikh Mbacke Diong led all scorers with 18 points. He had a double-double as he also lured in 10 rebounds. Bryce Hamilton and David Jenkins Jr, although not getting their usual game minutes, still put up their quality numbers. Hamilton had 15 points despite only shooting 8 times. Jenkins had 17 points to go along with 5 assists.

A pleasant surprise for the Runnin’ Rebels was Moses Wood. The sophomore had a career game dropping 17 points on 7-8 shooting. Woods performance has been something UNLV has been looking for all season. They need someone besides Bryce Hamilton, David Jenkins Jr., and Caleb Grill to take a step and be a nice bench piece for this team. If the performance by Wood on Tuesday is any indication on how he might perform the rest of the season, than the UNLV coaching staff and fans will be very happy.

The game started out pretty evenly matched until about halfway through the first half. Then UNLV pulled away by going on a 22-0 run led by Cheikh Diong. That 22-0 run was in the middle of a 27-5 run to finish the first half. They had a 49-20 lead at the break.

To start the second half, it was all UNLV. They only allowed three points in the first 14 minutes of the second half of the game. It was a dominant 30-3 run for the Runnin’ Rebels. They outscored the Firebirds 46-14 in the second half alone. They went on to win the game by a final score of 95-34.

UNLV will look to build off this win and carry momentum into the two games against New Mexico.

The Runnin’ Rebels will now play two more Mountain West Conference games when they match up against the New Mexico Lobos. New Mexico started out the season 3-0 but have gone 0-6 since then. They carry a 3-6 record in which all their losses have come in Mountain West Conference games. Among those losses, the closest deficit has been 10 points. Their most recent game was a 36 point loss to Utah State.

New Mexico is one of the two teams below UNLV in the standings, the other being San Jose State. UNLV will look to build off this victory over St. Katherine and carry it into these tough Mountain West games. These next two games for UNLV may be some of the most important games of the season for the Runnin’ Rebels.