The Nevada Wolf Pack simply couldn't run with the UNLV Rebels Tuesday night.
The Wolf Pack got 14 points each from Deonte Burton and Jerry Evans but it wasn't nearly enough as the Rebels breezed to a 66-54 Mountain West victory at Thomas & Mack Center.
The Rebels led for the final 34 minutes of the game and never allowed the Pack to make a run in the second half in beating their in-state rival for the seventh consecutive time. The last time the Wolf Pack has beaten the Rebels was Nov. 26, 2005 (68-61 at Las Vegas).
The Wolf Pack has now lost five of its last seven games to fall to 11-9 overall and 2-4 in the Mountain West. UNLV improved to 17-4, 4-2.
The Wolf Pack had a few brief leads in the first seven minutes of the game. Kevin Panzer drained a 3-pointer for a 5-4 lead with 16:39 to go, Burton had a lay-up for a 9-7 lead with 14:42 to go and a Burton jumper gave the Pack its final lead at 11-10 with 13:26 left in the first half.
The Pack, though, stayed close throughout the first half.
Evans had a 3-pointer to cut the Rebels' lead to 24-20 with 5:21 to go, Malik Story hit a 3-pointer to slice the Rebels' lead to 28-25 with 3:11 to go and a pair of free throws by Cole Huff brought the Pack to within 28-27 with 2:25 left.
UNLV led 34-27 at halftime.
Evans hit a pair of shots to twice cut UNLV's lead to just five early in the second half (34-29 and 36-31). But the closest the Pack would get the rest of the way was seven (59-52) after a free throw by Story with four minutes to play.
Story was 2-of-9 from the field and finished with nine points. Huff and Panzer finished with five each. Jordan Burris scored his only three points on a 3-pointer that cut UNLV's lead to 57-49 with 6:29 to play.
Khem Birch led UNLV with 14 points and three steals. Anthony Bennett finished with 13 points and nine rebounds. Bryce Dejean-Jones had 11 and Anthony Marshall finished with eight points and six assists.
Burton had a game-high seven assists.
UNLV, which will play the Pack at Lawlor Events Center on March 2, out-rebounded the Wolf Pack 44-28. Burris and Story each had four turnovers as the Pack turned the ball over 16 times.
The Wolf Pack will play at New Mexico on Saturday.
