RENO, Nev. – He did it again. Grant Sherfield did it again.
The sophomore point guard hit a step-back, off-balance 3-pointer with one second remaining to give Nevada an 85-82 victory over Colorado State in Friday night's regular-season finale at Lawlor Events Center.
The Pack will enter next week's Air Force Reserve Mountain West Championship on a winning note, opening play as the No. 5 seed next Thursday, March 11, against No. 4 Boise State at 2:30 p.m. from the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Nevada (15-9, 10-7 MW) fought back from down as many as 13 points in the first half, and from a 44-37 halftime deficit, to take its first lead of the game with six minutes to go as Kane Milling's triple put the Pack up 75-74.
Milling hit four triples and scored a career-high 17 points, while fellow guard Desmond Cambridge, Jr. posted his seventh 20-point game of the season, finishing right at the mark and going 9-for-9 from the free-throw line.
Cambridge, Jr.'s triple with just over three minutes to go put the Pack in front, 82-80, before both teams went scoreless for over two minutes. Colorado State's Kendle Moore broke the drought with a pair of free throws with 57 seconds left, and when Sherfield turned the ball over the next time down, the Rams looked poised to steal one.
But the Pack defense bore down, swarming David Roddy to force a loose ball, which Warren Washington recovered and fed to Sherfield. The point guard eschewed the timeout Nevada had remaining, approaching the right wing, stepping back, and hitting nothing but net from deep to clinch the win.
It was a well-earned victory especially after a cold start in which the Pack opened 3-for-15 from the field and trailed 18-5 seven minutes in. Nevada still stared at a 13-point hole with it at 37-24 four minutes before the break, before Tré Coleman, who finished with 11 points, his third-straight game in double figures, scored five in a row to spur a 7-0 run and help pull Nevada within seven by halftime.
Roddy and Isaiah Stevens each scored 20 points to lead Colorado State (17-5, 14-4 MW), with Roddy adding 10 rebounds for his double-double. The Rams went 32-for-34 from the line in the contest, with Nevada going 28-for-37, as there were a combined 53 fouls called.