Nevada’s ‘Marqueze’ performer paves way

Coleman leads Wolf Pack to comeback victory in overtime

RENO — Marqueze Coleman made a special telephone call on Saturday afternoon.

“I called my mom and told her that this game was going to be her Valentine’s Day gift,” Coleman said with a smile. “This one is for her.”

Coleman made it a Valentine’s Day to remember at Lawlor Events Center, scoring 24 points as the Nevada Wolf Pack beat the New Mexico Lobos 66-63 in overtime.

“I needed a game like this,” said Coleman, who scored 22 points after halftime. “It’s been a while.”

Coleman, who was averaging just 9.3 points a game and had scored just 24 points over his last five games combined, scored the eventual game-winning point on a free throw for a 64-63 lead with 34 seconds to go.

“Once I got a few lay-ups I felt I could get to the rim all the time,” said Coleman, who was 7-of-10 from the floor and 9-of-10 from the free throw line. “I just felt I had to get back to my game and not settle for jump shots.”

The Wolf Pack, now 8-16 overall and 4-8 in the Mountain West, only led in the 45-minute game for 4:12. The Pack went scoreless in the first half during one stretch for just more than nine minutes (9:04) and found itself down 31-19 at halftime. “I just told them at halftime to stay with it, to keep grinding, that the game is going to turn,” Pack coach David Carter said.

“Everyone had a positive attitude at halftime,” Coleman said.

Carter, though, saw something different in his player’s eyes.

“I think we were down 14 and we called a timeout,” Carter said. “They had a different look.”

“In the past when we would fall behind a lot of guys would get down and start pointing fingers,” guard Tyron Criswell said. “But this time that didn’t happen.”

“We weren’t going to let that happen again,” Coleman said.

The Wolf Pack’s comeback turned serious when Criswell hit a 3-pointer and Eric Cooper drained a short jumper just 49 seconds apart to slice the Lobos lead to 54-48 with 5:30 to go.

“We never gave up,” forward A.J. West said. “We knew we could get back in this game.”

Coleman, who had made just 7-of-34 3-pointers this season, then connected from beyond the arc to cut New Mexico’s lead to 56-51 with four minutes to go. “That’s when I knew we could win this game,” Criswell said.

Coleman converted six consecutive free throws to give the Pack its first lead of the game at 57-56 lead with 1:50 left.

“We went with a small lineup,” said Carter, who used the 6-foot-9 West and guards Coleman, Criswell, Cooper and Micahel Perez for much of the comeback and in overtime. “We were able to spread their (New Mexico’s) defense out and give Marqueze a chance to get to the basket.”

Criswell, who scored 11 points, then gave the Pack a 59-56 lead with a lay-up with 1:23 to play.

The Lobos (14-11, 6-7), though, sent the game into overtime with a 3-pointer by Hugh Greenwood with 1:12 left.

A free throw by West, giving the Pack a 60-59 lead, was the only point scored in the first three minutes of the five-minute overtime. New Mexico then took a 61-60 lead on a pair of free throws by Deshawn Delaney but Cooper then hit one of the biggest shots of the night, nailing a 3-pointer from the right side for a 63-61 Pack lead with 1:47 to go.

J.J. N’Ganga’s two free throws, though, tied the game (63-63) for New Mexico for the seventh and final time with 1:12 left. Coleman then took matters into his own hands again, driving to the basket and drawing another foul with 34 seconds to play.

His first free throw gave the Pack a 64-63 lead. He missed his second free throw but West pulled down the offensive rebound and jammed it home for a 66-63 lead.

“I was so tired,” said West, who had 12 points and 17 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season. “I had nothing left but I had to dunk that. I knew I had to try.”

The Lobos, like they did at the end of regulation, were only able to get off a desperation 3-pointer by Tim Jacobs as the game ended.

“This feels so good,” West said. “We needed that one by any means necessary.”

The victory ended a four-game losing streak at home for the Pack.

“We overcame a lot,” said Carter, whose Wolf Pack will host Wyoming at Lawlor on Tuesday night (7 p.m.). “I told the guys before the game that just coming close wasn’t going to be good enough, that we had to find a way to win the game.”

“We were tired of losing the close game,” Coleman said.