RENO - The San Jose Spartans proved to be the perfect cure for the Nevada Wolf Pack's Utah State hangover Saturday night.
"Everybody did their job," said center Dario Hunt, who scored 16 points and pulled down a career-high 19 rebounds in the Wolf Pack's 89-69 victory over the Spartans in front of 4,946 fans at Lawlor Events Center. "We came out hard and kept it on them the whole game."
"We came out with energy, which is what we needed," guard Malik Story.
The Wolf Pack turned in its best overall shooting performance of the season just three nights after arguably its worst in a 67-45 loss at Utah State on Wednesday.
"This was huge for us in terms of our confidence," said Pack coach David Carter, whose team has now won five of its last six games to improve to 9-14 overall and 6-4 in the Western Athletic Conference. "We have a lot of confidence playing at home but it was important that we come out and shoot the ball well, especially in the first half."
The Wolf Pack shot over 50 percent from the floor (52 percent ), over 40 percent from 3-point range (44 percent) and over 75 percent from the free throw line (79 percent) in the same game for the first time this season. That was welcome and rapid improvement over just three days ago at Utah State when the Pack shot 33 percent from the floor, 12 percent from 3-point range and 64 percent from the line in scoring their fewest points in a game in a decade.
"It's always good to shoot well like that," said Hunt, who also added two blocks and an assist in his 34 productive minutes. "We prepared well for this game. We needed something like this coming off the loss at Utah State."
The Wolf Pack drained 12 of its first 16 shots in jumping out to a 35-17 lead just 12 minutes into the game. A 3-pointer by Jerry Evans just 14 seconds into the game got the evening started for the Pack
"That shot by Jerry got us going," Story said.
Backup point guard Derrell Conner hit two 3-pointers and Story had one as the Pack took control of the game in the first dozen minutes.
"I think we learned from Wednesday night (at Utah State)," Carter said. "We learned that whatever offensive sets we call, that we have to execute them. At Utah we were thinking too much and didn't execute."
The Pack shot 52 percent from the floor in both the first and second half, just the third time this season they were 50 percent or better in both halves of the game.
"We had 19 assists and that shows we shared the ball," Carter said. "They (San Jose State) were going back and forth from man to zone (defense) and we were patient and found the open shots."
If it wasn't for a cold spell in the final seven-plus minutes of the first half the Pack would have had a near-perfect offensive performance. The Pack missed nine of its last 11 shots over the final 7:38 of the first half as San Jose State cut the Pack's lead to 40-31 at halftime. The Spartans outscored the Pack 14-5 over that final 7:38 of the half.
The Pack, though, heated up once again in their halftime locker room.
Story hit a pair jumpers that seem to scrape the Lawlor rafters, Deonte Burton had a 3-pointer and Hunt had a dunk as the Pack took a 51-35 lead just five minutes into the second half.
"Everybody kept their spirits up after Utah State," Hunt said. "We weren't worried about that. Utah State is a tough place to play. They are at the level we need to be at. But we just knew we had to forget about that game and come out here and get a win."
The Pack's Utah State hangover obviously disappeared the moment they arrived back in Reno late Wednesday night.
"Utah State is a very good team and we just kind of ran into a buzz-saw over there in the second half," Carter said. "We had to quickly forget about that."
Consider it forgotten.
The Pack never let San Jose State (11-11, 3-8) get closer than 10 points over the final 17:40 of the game. San Jose State's Adrian Oliver, who came into the game as the leading scorer in the WAC at 23.7 a game, had a layup to cut the Nevada lead to 54-44 with just under 10 minutes to play.
Oliver, who finished with a game-high 25 points, had another layup to cut the Pack lead to 60-50 with 7:29 left and he had a pair of free throws to make it 67-57 with 5:29 to go.
The Pack, though, pulled away in the final 4:29. Patrick Nyeko and Story had layups for a 71-57 lead, Olek Czyz had four free throws for a 76-59 lead and Jordan Burris nailed a 3-pointer for an 83-64 lead with two minutes left.
Carter then emptied his bench. Seldom-used guard Keith Fuetsch, who had played just 10 minutes all season without scoring a point, played three minutes and scored four points.
"Our bench gave us a lot of energy," said Story, who tied Hunt for team-high honors with 16 points. "Everybody contributed to this win and that's what we needed."
The Pack, more than anything, just needed a victory.
"This team has grown a lot over the last month," Carter said. "Our record might not reflect it but I think right now we're a real good team."
