UNLV holds off late Colorado St. charge, 78-70

Feb 27, 2014, 01:19 am

LAS VEGAS -- Bryce Dejean-Jones scored 19 and UNLV nearly surrendered a double-digit second half lead, then rallied for a 78-70 victory over Colorado State on Wednesday night.

Kevin Olekaibe added 15 for UNLV (18-10, 9-6 Mountain West) and Deville Smith had 12.

J.J. Avila led Colorado State (15-14, 6-10) with 22 points. Daniel Bejarano added 21 and Jon Octeus 17.

UNLV held a 12-point lead with 12:34 left.

That's when Colorado State went on a 15-4 run, highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers by Avila and Octeus.

The Rams mounted the comeback without Bejarano, who picked up his fourth foul midway through the half. Bejarano entered the game with under 7 minutes left and missed his next four attempts.

UNLV scored the next nine points to pull away.

The Rebels led 41-31 at halftime after scoring 18 points in the paint and making six 3-pointers.