SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Nevada used impressive long-range shooting and rebounding to show why it was an NCAA Tournament team and Mountain West Conference champion last season.
Cody Martin had a game-high 22 points and Jordan Caroline tallied 21 to lead the Wolf Pack to a 93-63 victory over Santa Clara men's basketball on Wednesday.
Hallice Cooke (12) and Lindsey Drew (11) also reached double figures for Nevada (3-0), which shot 55 percent from the floor, including 15 of 30 from behind the 3-point line, and held a 46-29 rebounding advantage.
Henry Caruso scored a team-high 18 points and KJ Feagin added 15 for the Broncos (1-1) who open play in the GCI Great Alaska Shootout on Saturday.
Nevada pulled away late in the first half. After Feagin hit a 3-pointer to make it 30-21, the Wolf Pack ripped off 12 straight points with Martin, Cooke and Caroline hitting 3-pointers in one minute of action.
The Wolf Pack went cold midway through the second half, hitting only of 1 of 7 field goals during one stretch, helping spur on a 12-2 Santa Clara run which cut the deficit to 65-51 with Caruso providing eight points.
But Nevada answered back quickly, with Caroline and Martin combining to score nine straight points to push the lead back to more than 20 with less than eight minutes left in the game.
Nevada, which won 28 games last season en route to both the MWC regular-season and tournament titles, had 27 assists on 36 baskets, led by Drew's game-high eight.
Martin had a double-double with a game-best 12 rebounds.
Emmanuel Ndumanya led the way on the glass for the Broncos with eight rebounds. Caruso had seven rebounds and three assists.
COACHING TREE
Nevada's Eric Musselman was an assistant coach under Herb Sendek at Arizona State for two seasons (2012-14) and is one of 12 former assistants currently running his own collegiate program.
NEXT UP
The Broncos open play in the GCI Great Alaska Shootout on Saturday when Cal Poly visits Leavey Center for a preliminary-round game. Santa Clara, one of eight teams in the tournament, plays three games in Anchorage next week.
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