Box Score March 11, 2017 Box Score | USATSI Gallery 
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LAS VEGAS - The Nevada men's basketball team is headed to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007 as it captured the Mountain West Championship on Saturday with a 79-71 victory over Colorado State at Thomas and Mack Center.
The Wolf Pack never trailed in the game, building a 16-point lead in the first half before holding on as the Rams made a second-half charge. Nevada struggled to score at times in the second half but made its way to the free throw line often enough to seal the win.
Jordan Caroline broke loose for 23 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Pack. Marcus Marshall added 21 points as D.J. Fenner and Josh Hall each scored 12 for Nevada. The win gave Nevada the tournament title to go along with its regular season conference championship.
"We're going to celebrate this tonight and we're going to by back to Reno in the morning and celebrate there and enjoy this," head coach Eric Musselman said. "And then Sunday night, we're going to get ready to go plan a game."
"The theme has been that we need to defend and rebound," said Musselman, whose team out-rebounded the Rams 46-34. "This game was won on the glass. "
Caroline won the tournament MVP and was on all the all-tournament team along with Cameron Oliver and Marcus Marshall.
"I was just trying to help my team get to the tournament any way I could," Caroline said.
Nevada led by 12 at halftime after a strong first 20 minutes. But the Pack went cold in the second half and the Rams slowly chipped away and tied the game on a three-pointer with 11:33 to play. But the Pack, led by Marshall, began drawing fouls and getting to the free throw line to score from there. Nevada scored 26 points from the line, all in the second half.
Nevada will be making its seventh appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and its first since 2007. The Wolf Pack is 4-6 all-time in the tournament, winning twice in 2004 when it advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, and winning first-round games in 2005 and 2007.
Nevada raced out early in the first half, taking a 7-0 lead to start the game and later using 8-0 and 9-0 runs at different points to build a 16-point lead at one point before settling for a 44-32 advantage.
The Pack had the lead at the break with a balanced scoring attack as Oliver and Marshall combined for just eight points in the first 20 minutes. But Caroline scored 16 on 7-of-8 shooting and Fenner scored eight points for the Pack, which also got seven from Drew. Nevada shot 57.6 percent from the floor in the first half.
