Nevada men's hoops falls to Tulsa

RENO - With the top seed in the upcoming Western Conference postseason tournament on the line, Nevada coach Trent Johnson expected a top effort from the Wolfpack.

He's still waiting.

Nevada got off to a slow start, and never recovered en route to a 79-73 win over Tulsa in the regular-season finale for both teams Saturday night in front of 11,166 at the Lawlor Events Center.

The loss means Nevada will be the No. 3 seed in the WAC tourney, which starts Tuesday at Tulsa. The Wolfpack will open against Louisiana Tech Thursday at 2:30 p.m.

"I was surprised by our effort at times," Johnson said. "For whatever reason, selfishness starts to surface on our team; guys start talking to each other. We've played a lot harder this year, and with a lot more emotion.

"I thought our defense was poor. Part of that has to do with them. I thought Tulsa played well; as well as they've played all year. You have to give Tulsa credit. They've been playing well the last five or six games."

Johnson won't get any argument from Tulsa coach John Phillips.

"It can do anything but help us," Phillips said. "To get a road win in college basketball is difficult. For us to beat Nevada, I knew we'd have to play a great game.

"The first time we played them, they got 20 offensive rebounds. Tonight they got 11, and we outrebounded them. I thought that was very important. Offensively we did a good job, especially in the second half when we were able to spread them out. We were able to get the ball down in the post three or four times."

The Wolfpack was unable to contain either guard Dante Swanson or center-forward Kevin Johnson. Swanson scored 26 points, including 6-for-8 from three-point land. Johnson followed with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

"That man is very good," said Nevada center Sean Paul, who scored 12 points and pulled down nine rebounds. "I have all the respect for him. I was so close to getting a hand on his shot, and he'd get it off. Swanson hit all the big shots."

Swanson scored 14 points in the first 16 minutes of the game, sparking Tulsa to a 38-25 lead with 6:10 left. Johnson had seven in that span, including a couple of nice turnarounds.

"Swanson and Johnson were hard to stop tonight," Nevada guard Todd Okeson said. "When two people go off (like they did), it's terrible for our team."

Nevada outscored Tulsa 12-1 in the final 3:25 of the half to slice the lead to 42-39 at the intermission, and Okeson was right in the middle of things.

Okeson (10 points) started the surge with a three-pointer and a free throw in a 20-second span to make it 41-31. After a free throw by Johnson, Paul hit from the baseline, and Dean Browne added a putback to make it 42-35 with 1:26 left.

After Tulsa misfired, Garry Hill-Thomas knocked down two free throws to slice the lead to 42-37. Matt Ochs hit his only field goal of the game to complete the run.

"We started to make some bad decsions, and turned the ball over a few times," Phillips said. "We gave them a few second shots."

Nevada stayed within striking distance in the early part of the second half, but Tulsa gradually built up a 62-52 lead thanks to a layup and putback by Johnson, and two foul shots by Marqus Ledoux.

Two free throws by Paul plus a layup by Jerry Petty sliced the lwead to 68-62 with 6:08 remaining. A trey by Seneca Collins and Jarius Glenn's layup put Tulsa in control at 73-62 with 2:44 left.

"Once again, we were flat in the first half," Paul said. "The second half I thought we'd play a lot better. They beat us on the glass. They outhustled us. We just couldn't get over the hump.

"We have to stop from coming out flat no matter who we play (in the tournament). No matter who we play, we won't win if we do it again."

One thing is certain, Johnson and his squad believe that anybody is capable of winning the tournament.

"Whoever comes to play, plays hard, executes in the half court and plays with passion (can win)," Johnson said.

Kirk Snyder, who led Nevada with 21 points, said, "No matter what seed we are, we have to go out and play basketball. It doesn't matter what seed you are in this tournament. I think it's that wide open. Hawaii is fifth or sixth, and they were WAC champs last year. It's really open."

That may be, but if Nevada doesn't start to play better as a team, it won't be in the tournament long.

NOTES: Nevada honored its four seniors prior to the game D Paul, Terrance Green, Petty and London Wilson ... The crowd was the third-largest in Lawlor history ... Nevada's selfishness was accentuated by the fact it had only 13 assists all night. Johnson felt it was a case of players trying to do too much, which caused the poor shot selection at times in the second half.