RENO, Nev. – Utah Tech men’s basketball opened the 2022-23 season with an 84-71 road loss at Nevada on Monday night at the Lawlor Events Center.
The Trailblazers (0-1 overall, 0-0 in the Western Athletic Conference) jumped out to a quick 7-1 lead thanks to a pair of early 3-pointers from Cameron Gooden and Frank Staine, according to a news release from Utah Tech Athletics.
UT led 27-21 with just over eight minutes to go in the first half despite shooting 6-of-19 from the floor. However, the Blazers managed to go 4-of-7 from the perimeter and hit on 11-of-13 at the foul line.
Meanwhile, the UT defense forced nine Wolf Pack turnovers, which led to 14 Blazer points.
But Nevada (1-0) later used a 17-5 run over a four-plus minute span to erase the deficit and take a 38-32 lead with 3:17 to go in the half. Utah Tech stopped the drought with a Trey Edmonds dunk and a Jacob Nicolds trey, but Nevada scored six of the final eight points of the stanza to retreat to the locker room with a 44-39 halftime advantage.
The Wolf Pack opened the second half with a 13-5 spurt to race out to their biggest lead of the night at 57-44 after a Daniel Foster dunk.
UT got to within nine points at 59-50 after a Noa Gonsalves 3-pointer, but Nevada ripped off a 15-6 run to extend its lead to 74-56 with 6:22 remaining.
Nevada pushed its lead to as many as 20 points before settling for the 13-point home win.
Gooden led three Trailblazers in double figures with 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting. Gooden also went 5-of-6 at the line and finished with two steals and one assist.
Gonsalves posted career highs of 13 points and eight rebounds in his first start of the season. The sophomore hit 5-of-7 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, and dished out a team-high three assists.
Isaiah Pope chipped in 10 points with four boards, and sophomore Tanner Christensen pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to go with seven points in his Trailblazer debut.
Utah Tech shot 37.9 percent from the floor (22-of-58) and was 8-of-22 from the perimeter (.364). UT did hit on 19-of-25 at the foul line (19-of-25), but lost the rebounding battle by a slim 36-34 count.
Jarod Lucas led for Nevada players in double figures with 17 points.
The Wolf Pack shot an even 50.0 percent (29-of-58) from overall, which included a 30.0 percent clip (6-of-20) from beyond the arc. Nevada also committed just three over the final 28 minutes of the game.
Utah Tech opens the home portion of its 2022-23 schedule Saturday, Nov. 12, against CSUN. Tip-off inside the Burns Arena is slated for 7 p.m.