After tight win, No. 10 Nevada gears up for Air Force
On Tuesday, Nevada sidestepped an upset attempt due to the sharpshooting of an unlikely source. The No. 10 Wolf Pack would like to have an easier time on Saturday when they host a gutty Air Force squad in Mountain West play. Nevada (17-1, 4-1 MW) is atop the conference standings after sweating out a 72-71 win at Boise State when Cody Martin played the role of hero instead of twin brother Caleb. Cody Martin made his first 3-pointer in exactly one month with 4.5 seconds left to give the Wolf Pack the victory. He is just 9 of 43 (20.9 percent) from 3-point range this season and wasn't the first option on the decisive play. However, the senior forward didn't hesitate when he found himself with a little bit of operating room. "I know I put in the time and the work to take those shots and take them with confidence," Martin said after the contest. "When the play broke down, I saw an opening, and I just took it." The shot prevented Nevada from taking its second conference loss after entering league play with an unbeaten record. The Wolf Pack blew a 12-point lead to the Broncos, but coach Eric Musselman said he never felt in danger of being on the losing end. "I didn't panic the whole game," Musselman said. "When you're used to winning, I thought we would win the game. Two years ago, in a situation like that, I would be sweating and panicking internally. "For whatever reason with this group, I have such great confidence in them. ... There is an incredible will to win. This is a team with great internal belief, one through 12." Senior shooting guard Caleb Martin leads the Wolf Pack with an 18.6-point scoring average despite producing just 10 points against the Broncos. Senior big man Jordan Caroline had 15 points and 13 rebounds for his 38th career double-double. Caroline is averaging 18.2 points and a team-leading 9.9 rebounds. Meanwhile, Air Force (7-10, 2-3) has put together back-to-back impressive victories over San Diego State and UNLV by an average of 16 points. The Falcons established a season best for points on Wednesday in their 106-88 trouncing of the Rebels. Air Force shot 59.7 percent from the field while scoring 100 or more points for just the ninth time in program history. Junior guard Ryan Swan scored 22 points -- one off his career best -- and collected nine rebounds during the club's stellar performance. "I think we just played hard and everything fell into place how it was supposed to," Swan said. "When you play hard, little mistakes get covered up pretty easily." Junior forward Caleb Morris added a career-best 19 points while knocking down four 3-pointers. Junior forward Lavelle Scottie, who has scored in double digits 14 times this season, averages a team-leading 13.4 points. Swan contributes 12.9 points and a team-best 6.6 rebounds. The big win doesn't come with a nice follow-up gift as noted by Falcons coach Dave Pilipovich. "Now we get to go to Nevada and play the 10th-ranked team in the country on Saturday," Pilipovich said in his postgame press conference. Nevada has won the past five meetings and holds a 9-2 series lead. --Field Level Media |