Josh Pastner’s first season as coach of UNLV basketball ended with an 80-60 loss to No. 1 seed Utah State in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament on Thursday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn scored a team-high 17 points for the Rebels, who shot 41 percent in the blowout. Gibbs-Lawhorn was limited to two points in the first half.
Kimani Hamilton fouled out with 9:17 left, and Howie Fleming Jr. fouled out with five minutes remaining. They scored 11 and five points, respectively.
Mason Faslev, the newly crowned conference player of the year, led Utah State with 24 points.
The Rebels swept Utah State in the regular season, but couldn’t make up ground Thursday after the Aggies closed the first half on a 14-2 run to secure a 37-23 halftime lead.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Callie__Fin on X.
