Runnin’ Rebels drop third game in four tries

The UNLV Runnin’ Rebels lost the third of their last four games over Thanksgiving weekend when they hosted the No. 2-ranked UCLA Bruins 73-51.

Coming off a blowout 101-45 win against Whittier College, UNLV’s 51 points was their lowest offensive outing of the season. Their previous lowest offensive total was 55 points in a win against California.

Rebels guard Bryce Hamilton led the team in scoring for the sixth time in the team’s seven games this season.

He finished with 15 points on 6 of 15 shooting. Hamilton is shooting a mere 38.2% this season, and a career-low 25.6% from three-point range.

Junior forward Donovan Williams joined Hamilton as the only Rebels players to reach double-digits in scoring.

Williams finished with 12 points. He also had four rebounds and two assists to go along with his points.

Star rebounder for UNLV, Royce Hamm Jr., finished with a season-low four rebounds against the Bruins. He had eight points to go along with those four rebounds and only made one of his five field goal attempts.

UCLA was led by senior guard Jules Bernard. He had a game-high 18 points and shot 66% from the floor. He made three of his four attempts from long range.

The Bruins’ star guard, junior Johnny Juzang, finished with 12 points on 5 of 10 shooting. He also added a season-high nine rebounds. Juzang, who led the Bruins in scoring last season with 16 points per game, is leading the Bruins in scoring for the second straight season with 17.4 ppg on the year.

UCLA shot 47% from the floor for the game and made 17 of their 23 free-throw attempts.

UNLV will play their first road game of the season on Wednesday, Dec. 1, when they travel to Dallas, Texas to take on the Mustangs of Southern Methodist University. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for 5 p.m.

Following that game, the Runnin’ Rebels will have a few days off before traveling to San Francisco to take on the undefeated Dons. This game will take place on Saturday, Dec. 4 and tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.