Fazekas scores 26 for Nevada

Nick Fazekas had 26 points and eight rebounds Thursday night to help No. 20 Nevada overcome poor free-throw shooting and beat Louisiana-Lafayette 65-58 at Reno, Nev.

Reserve Marcelus Kemp added 12 points and point guard Ramon Sessions had 12 rebounds and seven assists for the Wolf Pack (10-1). Nevada led 56-35 with 8:53 left but made only 14 of 27 free throws and missed seven in the final 1:22 to let the Ragin’ Cajuns back in the game.

Dwayne Mitchell scored 12 of his 20 points in the final 5 minutes and had 10 rebounds for Louisiana-Lafayette (3-7), while Michael Southall added 14 points before fouling out.

The Wolf Pack, 34-4 at home over the last three seasons, are off to their best start since 1978-79.

They made only three of their first 21 shots from the field and shot only 27 percent overall in the first half but still led 28-22.

Fazekas hit one of his four 3-pointers then fed Kyle Shiloh for a breakaway layup to cap a 20-6 run to open the second half and put Nevada ahead 48-28 with 11:26 left. He made his next two 3-point attempts and added a basket inside to give Nevada its biggest lead, 56-35.

Women

Ivory Latta scored nine of her 33 points in overtime to lead No. 5 North Carolina to an 88-80 victory over Old Dominion at Norfolk, Va.

The Tar Heels (12-0) trailed most of the game, but Latta had 13 points in the second half and then scored North Carolina’s last six points.

Old Dominion (2-6) led 40-37 at halftime and stretched the lead to 10 in the second half before the Tar Heels began a 9-0 run that ended with 7:04 left.

Camille Little of North Carolina hit a free throw to tie it at 72 with 20 seconds left but missed the second. Latta missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer and the game went into overtime.

Tish Lyons had 20 points for Old Dominion, which had 16 steals and forced 20 turnovers.

T.J. Jordan added 16 points for the Monarchs, while Sherida Triggs had 15, Shahida Williams 13 and Shantel Wilson 10.

Wilson had 12 rebounds as the Monarchs outrebounded North Carolina 50-41.

Erlana Larkins had 18 points and Little added 14 for the Tar Heels.

(4) Baylor 82, Sam Houston St. 42: At Waco, Texas, Sophia Young scored 20 points and Chameka Scott finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Bears (10-0) over the Bearkats (5-5). … (6) Maryland 94, Central Connecticut St. 57: Shay Doron scored 26 points and Crystal Langhorne added 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Terrapins (11-1) past the Blue Devils (2-7) in the opening round of the Terrapin Classic at College Park, Md. … (7) Ohio St. 74, Penn St. 53: Jessica Davenport scored 19 points and Kim Wilburn sparked the defense with four first-half steals to lead the Buckeyes (9-1) over the Nittany Lions (6-6) at Columbus, Ohio. … (8) Connecticut 78, Albany 44: Barbara Turner scored 18 points and Ann Strother added 17 to lead the Huskies (10-1) over the Great Danes (3-6) at Hartford, Conn. … (15) Minnesota 69, Northwestern 54: Shannon Schonrock scored 15 points and Liz Podominick added 13 to lead the Golden Gophers (8-2) over the Wildcats (4-7) in the Big Ten opener for both teams at Evanston, Ill. … (17) Georgia 97, Memphis 44: At Memphis, Tenn., Sherill Baker scored 25 points and Tasha Humphrey added 23 to lead the Bulldogs (8-3) over the Tigers (2-9). … (18) Purdue 77, Wisconsin 57: At West Lafayette, Ind., Aya Traore scored 18 points to lead the Boilermakers (9-2) over the Badgers (5-7) on in the Big Ten opener for both teams. … (25) Virginia Tech 76, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 64: Dawn Chriss scored 21 of her 26 points in the second half to lead the Hokies (12-0) over the Islanders (6-6) in the title game of the Lady Luck Classic at Blacksburg, Va.