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Thorns, TCU upset No. 11 UNLV in OT

Feb 15, 2012 - 4:03 AM Fort Worth, TX (Sports Network) - Hank Thorns made eight three-pointers and scored a career-high 32 points, leading TCU to a 102-97 upset of No. 11 UNLV in overtime on Tuesday.

Thorns was 8-of-12 from beyond the arc. He knocked down back-to-back threes late in regulation to tie the game after the Horned Frogs (15-10, 5-4 Mountain West) had trailed by 15 points with less than 10 minutes remaining.

His eighth three-pointer, after he spun to create some space, gave TCU a 96-91 lead in overtime.

"A great game," said TCU coach Jim Christian. "He made some huge plays tonight once he got going. He's a great player and an accomplished player in my mind. Being from Las Vegas, this game was close to home for him. But it wasn't about that. He wanted to beat the right team at home."

Mike Moser had 22 points to lead UNLV (22-5, 6-3), but the Runnin' Rebels went cold down the stretch in regulation, ending their six-game winning streak over TCU.

Thorns scored 16 of his 32 points in the first half, but the other 16 loomed larger: eight apiece in the second half and overtime to lead the Horned Frogs to their biggest win of the season and give them a bit of revenge for a 101-78 loss to UNLV on January 18.

"I was overwhelmed," said the Las Vegas native. "I might have dropped down about four times. I had to just go sit down and cry. I had to go find my dad because I was just so overwhelmed. I'm proud of my guys. Everyone stepped up tonight and I think we should feed off this and not let this moment slip away."

TCU whittled its 15-point deficit to nothing after Thorns' back-to-back threes made it 83-83 inside two minutes. UNLV had just five points in the last seven- plus minutes of regulation, the final two coming on Moser's dunk to make it 85-83.

Amric Fields, who scored 17, scored a layup after a UNLV turnover with 2:10 remaining and neither team scored before the buzzer.

The Runnin' Rebels called a timeout to set up a play with 7.7 seconds left, but Oscar Bellfield dribbled into trouble and turned the ball over. Thorns hustled to lead a 2-on-1, but his pass to J.R. Cadot in the final second came too late and the Horned Frogs couldn't get a shot off in time.

Thorns and Fields scored the first four points in overtime on layups and TCU never trailed afterward, going ahead by as many as six points.

UNLV entered the game with its best record since going 26-2 in the 1991-92 season. The Runnin' Rebels are ranked for the 10th week this season -- their highest number of weeks in the polls since 1992-93. Their No. 11 ranking was the highest since they were No. 10 in the coaches' poll on February 8, 1993.

"A lot of credit goes to TCU. They were terrific," said UNLV coach Dave Rice. "We got them down a couple digits in the second half and they kept playing. We knew it'd be a very big game. Offensively we were very good, especially for being on the road and defensively, for the entire game, we didn't have it for being on the road."

UNLV carried a 48-43 lead into the second half and scored eight straight points, keyed by a Chase Stanback three, to go ahead by 13 and led by as many as 18.

Game Notes

Cadot had 16 points and 12 rebounds...Stanback and Anthony Marshall scored 17 points apiece for UNLV, which still owns a 17-3 advantage in the all-time series...TCU has won seven straight games at home and is above .500 in league play this late in the season for the first time since the 2003-04 season.