Heartbreaking finish for Wolf Pack

Nevada has chance at the buzzer before falling just short

RENO — The Nevada Wolf Pack played its best game of the season Wednesday night.

And still lost.

“This team is growing up,” Wolf Pack coach David Carter said after a 65-63 loss to the San Diego State Aztecs in front of a crowd of 5,832 at Lawlor Events Center. “I really believe it’s going to turn around. But we have to keep fighting.”

The Wolf Pack, which have now lost seven games in a row to fall to 6-15 overall and 2-7 in the Mountain West, fought to the end against the Aztecs. Michael Perez came up short on a possible game-winning 3-pointer from the right corner with two seconds left and A.J. West missed a possible game-tying lay-up after an offensive rebound on Perez’s miss as the buzzer sounded.

“That shot is going to haunt me for a while,” said West, who had 14 points and 13 rebounds. “I felt I could have dunked it. I didn’t go up as strong as I should have.”

Carter said the Wolf Pack got the shot they wanted at the end despite the fact Perez has now made just 4-of-24 3-point shots in nine Mountain West games this year.

“I really didn’t have a lot of choices,“ Carter said. “We just had to get a shot and he had a good look. We also could have gone up top to (Eric) Cooper or dumped it inside to A.J. (West) but it was a good shot. It just didn’t go in.”

San Diego State, now 18-5 and in first place in the Mountain West at 8-2, built a 45-33 lead with 15:13 to play. Matt Shrigley, Winston Shepard and J.J. O’Brien each hit a 3-pointer in a three-minute stretch to build the 12-point lead.

“We stayed confident,” Pack guard D.J. Fenner said. “We’re not going to give up.”

The Wolf Pack went on a 16-5 run over the next seven minutes to slice the Aztecs’ lead to just 50-49 with 8:14 to play. The Pack had six different players score during the run. West had a 3-point play, Cooper hit a 3-pointer, Fenner had a pair of free throws and a fall-away jumper, Perez had a jumper and Ronnie Stevens and Lucas Stivrins scored on lay-ups.

“More guys contributed,” Carter said. “We talked before the game about staying confident and that’s what happened. We had a lot of guys contribute. Our guys stayed patient and took good shots.”

The Aztecs, though, jumped out to a 60-53 lead with just 2:47 to play. Shrigley, who had nine points on three 3-pointers, connected on a 3-pointer with 7:25 to go for a 53-49 Aztec lead. Skylar Spener broke free for a dunk and a 55-49 lead and O’Brien scored on a lay-up for a 59-53 lead.

The Aztecs’ lead, though, should have been larger.

O’Brien missed back-to-back lay-ups with 3:40 to play, Aqeel Quinn missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and O’Brien missed the second of two free throws with 1:56 to go.

The Pack made them pay.

Cooper drained a 3-pointer with 2:19 left to cut the Aztecs lead to 60-56 and connected once again from long distance with 1:47 to go as the Pack closed to within 61-59. Perez then stole the ball with 1:20 to go and drove the length of the floor for a lay-up to tie the game at 61-61 with 1:17 left.

“I feel like there was a lot of doubt in people’s minds about us, even the crowd because we’ve lost a lot of games lately,” Fenner said. “But the only thing we were thinking about at the end was winning the game.”

The Aztecs, though, never let the Pack take the lead down the stretch. O’Brien, who finished with a game-high 18 points, converted a lay-up and a free throw as San Diego State took a 64-61 lead with 51 seconds to play.

West, though, pulled down a rebound off a missed 3-pointer by Cooper to cut the Aztecs lead to 64-63 with 16 seconds to play. Trey Kell then made 1-of-2 free throws at the other end as San Diego State took a 65-63 lead with 16 seconds to go.

The Pack offense then stumbled to the finish line. Criswell lost the ball off his dribble but West kept the Pack’s comeback hopes alive by coming up with the loose ball with 4.6 seconds left. The Aztecs then had a foul to give and they fouled Criswell with 2.4 seconds to go, setting up the final shots by Perez and West.

“This is a heartbreaker,” West said. “It’s just hard to lose. I’m hungry to break (the losing streak). I don’t want to have this feeling anymore.”

The Wolf Pack, which is going to play at San Jose State on Saturday, hasn’t won a game since it beat UNLV in Las Vegas on Jan. 7.

“When we lose like this it hurts more,” Fenner said. “I feel terrible because we lost. But I’d rather feel like this than not care at all.”

Carter said the Wolf Pack, now 5-6 at home this year, can feel good about itself despite the loss. The Pack received solid offensive contributions from a few players who have struggled lately. Fenner, who had scored just six points over his last four games combined, scored eight against the Aztecs. Stivrins, who had scored just nine points in his last six games combined, scored nine on 4-of-5 shooting. The Pack also shot 46 percent for the game (25-of-54) and scored 63 points against the top-rated defensive team in the Mountain West. San Diego State had allowed just 53.1 points a game and opponents were shooting just .373 against it going into Wednesday’s game.

“There are more positives than negatives,” Carter said. “We competed. We shot almost 50 percent against the best defensive team in the conference. It’s just coming down to one or two plays.”

“It feels bad but, yes, in the back of our minds, this was a moral victory,” Fenner said.