UNLV roundup: Ban, men’s golf team lead league tourney

UNLV senior Shintaro Ban shot 5-under-par 67 on Saturday for a 9-under 135 total and a four-stroke lead, helping the Rebels take a five-shot advantage into the final round of the Mountain West men’s golf championship in Bremerton, Washington.

No. 21-ranked UNLV, the two-time defending league champion, is at 4-under 572. Colorado State is alone in second, and Fresno State and Wyoming are tied for third, 10 shots behind the Rebels, in the 11-team field.

UNLV freshman Jack Trent is tied for seventh in the 55-player field at 2-under 142.

Also for the Rebels, junior Harry Hall is tied for 16th at 146, sophomore Justin Kim is tied for 27th at 149, and freshman Garrick Higgo is tied for 43rd at 155.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

At Fresno, Calif., Aiwen Zhu and En-Pei Huang each won in singles and teamed for a doubles victory to help the Rebels (14-5, 5-0 Mountain West) clinch a second straight West Division regular-season title with a 5-2 triumph over Fresno State (9-12, 3-1).

Zhu, ranked No. 62, won 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 over Emma Wilson at No. 1 singles, and Huang won 6-4, 6-2 over Ndindi Ndunda at No. 3 singles. The duo combined for a 6-3 victory over the No. 43-ranked pair of Wilson and Georgia Lawson at No. 1 doubles.

UNLV also got wins from Jovana Kenic at No. 5 singles and the No. 2 doubles team of Anna Bogoslavets and Juliet Zhang in wrapping up the program’s 10th overall conference championship – five in the regular season in five in tournament play, all under coach Kevin Cory.

BASEBALL

At Albuquerque, N.M., Connor Mang had three hits and three RBIs to back complete-game pitching from Cody Dye and lead New Mexico to an 11-2 victory over the Rebels.

Dye (3-5) limited UNLV (28-14, 9-8) to two runs on seven hits and four walks and struck out four to best Chase Maddux (3-5), who allowed six runs on seven hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings.

Justin Watari went 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs, and Jared Mang went 2-for-3 with two RBIs for the Lobos (14-22-1, 8-12), who had seven players with multiple hits and outhit the Rebels 16-7.

Jack-Thomas Wold hit a two-run single in the second to put UNLV up 2-1, before New Mexico answered with five runs in the bottom of the inning.

Nick Ames, who went 2-for-3, was the lone Rebel with multiple hits.

TRACK AND FIELD

At Long Beach, Calif., Jasmyne Graham placed first among collegiate competitors in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.26 seconds in the Beach Invitational.

Kaysha Love placed fourth in the 200 in 23.95 seconds, and Destiny Smith-Barnett took sixth in the 200 in 24.06 seconds.