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RENO, Nev. (AP) — Kenan Blackshear scored eight of his 22 points in overtime and Nevada beat No. 24 San Diego State 70-66 on Friday night.
Tre Coleman made two key steals and the tiebreaking basket in the extra period as the Wolf Pack defeated AP Top 25 teams in back-to-back games for the first time. Nevada (19-5, 6-4 Mountain West) won 77-63 at No. 22 Utah State on Tuesday.
“I’m just super proud of our guys,” Nevada coach Steve Alford said. “We talked about it after Utah State — try to validate the week. And any time you’ve got to validate it against San Diego State, it’s not easy.
“You’ve got the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked defenses in the Mountain West going at it. It was a defensive battle. Every shot was contested. It was hard. It was hard-fought.”
Coleman’s short jumper with 12 seconds left gave Nevada a 68-66 lead. Blackshear added two free throws in the final second after SDSU’s Darrion Trammell missed a 3-point attempt.
“It’s huge,” Alford said. “Our guys need the confidence.”
Jarod Lucas had 15 points and Nick Davidson scored 14 for the Wolf Pack, who led the entire game until Jay Pal converted a three-point play to give the Aztecs a 53-52 lead with 3:47 remaining in the second half.
San Diego State (18-6, 7-4) maintained a narrow advantage down the stretch, but Davidson picked up a loose-ball offensive rebound and laid it in to tie it at 60 with 5.3 seconds to play. He missed the ensuing free throw, and the Aztecs couldn’t get off a shot in the final seconds.
“Their ability to get second-chance points won them the game,” SDSU coach Brian Dutcher said. “We missed shots and did not get putbacks in the end.”
Nevada was outrebounded 44-25 (20-6 on offensive boards) in the first meeting between the teams in San Diego on Jan. 17, a 71-59 Aztecs win. This time, the Wolf Pack had a 34-32 edge on the boards (11-6 on the offensive glass).
“I thought the key was they got 20 offensive rebounds in Game 1 and tonight they got six,” Alford said.
Nevada was hindered by poor free-throw shooting, a bugaboo in recent games. After starting 7 for 8 from the foul line, Nevada made just four of its next 10 attempts and 12 of its next 24.
Jaedon LeDee, a top contender for Mountain West Conference player of the year, was in foul trouble throughout for San Diego State. But he shot 12 for 14 from the free-throw line and finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and seven turnovers.
Trammell added 11 points and Micah Parrish had 10 rebounds and nine points for the Aztecs.
FAMILY TIES
LeDee’s father, Herb LeDee, played at Nevada from 1989-91.
BIG PICTURE
San Diego State: The Aztecs dropped out of a four-way tie for first place in the Mountain West. One game separates the top six teams in the 11-team conference.
Nevada: The Wolf Pack are a game behind the league leaders. … The announced crowd of 11,394 was the sixth-largest in Lawlor Events Center history.
UP NEXT
San Diego State: Will host Colorado State on Tuesday.
Nevada: Will host New Mexico on Tuesday in Nevada’s third straight game against a ranked opponent.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
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