Nevada vs. New Mexico recap: Caroline, Oliver, star in wolfish bout

In a clash of canis lupus, the Nevada Wolfpack squared off against the New Mexico Lobos in Reno Saturday.

It was a battle of the top two teams in the Mountain West as Nevada (18-4, 7-2 MW) leads the pack with New Mexico (13-9, 6-4) hot on its tail.

Eventually, Nevada established dominance over the visitors with an 82-65 win.

Sporting bright pink uniforms in support of cancer awareness, the Wolfpack took the floor at home against the Lobos, who donned comparatively bland white get-ups.

From the outset, it was a close fight. The two foes swapped possession of the lead several times before Nevada took a 37-31 lead into the half.

The second half saw Nevada pull away from UNM while the Lobos perpetually played catchup. The Wolfpack would never relinquish their first half lead.

The game was interrupted by intermittent earthquakes, the epicenters of which were the basket New Mexico was defending.

Back-to-back Nevada threes stretched the lead to 70-58 with 5:08 to play in the second half, and all but sealed the victory.

No outcast from Eric Musselman’s high-scoring offense, big boy Jordan Caroline was prolific. He poured in 45 points en route to a 105-104 OT win in his last meeting with New Mexico. After donning his rose pink uniform, Caroline would need a golden calculator to divide the time it took to drive inside and post his stat line. He finished the game with 20 points and eight rebounds in 31 minutes of play.

Cameron Oliver led all scorers with 26 points on the night. He also tallied eight rebounds and three steals.

Marcus Marshall, Nevada’s leading scorer on the season, was hobbled with an ankle injury. Despite his taped up joint, Marshall added 13 points and eight assists.

The win is the Wolfpack’s 13th in their last 15 outings. Next, they travel to Utah to take on Utah State on the same day that UNM will face off against UNLV.