UNLV Stamps Ticket to NCAA Big Dance in OT Win Over New Mexico Lobos at the Pit

The Runnin' Rebels of UNLV all but guaranteed a spot in this year's 68 field NCAA Tournament with a 77-74 overtime thriller on the road against the New Mexico Lobos.

Coming off a big road win against Colorado State this past Saturday, UNLV put together two solid halves for the first time in a few games and showed it has the grit to win a tight game at a opponents frenzied arena.

UNLV's senior leader Tre'Von Willis came through in a big way. He led the Rebels with 25 points, 13 of which he scored in the first half on seven of seven shooting, to go with four assist and four steals in a game he was only 50-50 on playing prior to the tip due to his nagging knee injury.

Quintrell Thomas had another strong effort in Mountain West play adding 19 points and 13 rebounds. This was his third double-double of conference play.

UNLV took over third place in the conference standings after Colorado St. lost a close contest in Provo to Jimmer Fredette and BYU earlier in the evening.

UNLV will host the Wyoming Cowboys Saturday in the home finale, then close out the regular season at Utah.

Now the Rebels are essentially playing for seeding purposes in the NCAA tournament.

Winning the final two regular season games along with a strong showing in the Mountain West tournament in two weeks should help the Rebels move into a seed as high as a five or six, opposed to a seven or eight seed with a bad loss closing out the regular season.

If the Rebels can keep their shooting as it was last night, combined with their tenacious defense, they will be a tough team for anyone to beat come March.