Reading lips is never a perfect science, but the declaration Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn made toward Fresno State’s bench in the final four minutes of UNLV’s 98-96 road loss on Tuesday at Save Mart Center was hard to misinterpret.

“I’m big time!” he yelled while banging his chest.

It was a highlight moment that preceded a collapse for the ages.

The transfer guard had just hit a shifty stepback jumper that put the Rebels up by eight points. It also made his defender look like an automated opponent in a video game.

But Gibbs-Lawhorn fouled out just two minutes later, finishing with a team-high 28 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field.

His exit was only the start of a ridiculous finish to a game that ended with Fresno State’s fan section storming the court in reaction to Jake Heidbreder’s game-winning jumpshot while Gibbs-Lawhorn could only watch.

Afterward, Gibbs-Lawhorn attempted to choose his words carefully.

“The stuff I’m thinking right now is probably not too smart for me to say,” Gibbs-Lawhorn told reporters when asked what was going through his head after the loss. “Most of it’s about the refs … I feel like that one was taken from us.”

UNLV’s numbers game

The nearly three-hour long game was the Rebels’ fourth straight loss and featured a whopping 62 total fouls with six technicals and three flagrants between both teams.

Fresno State scored 32 points from 72.7 percent shooting at the free throw line, while the Rebels made 69.4 percent of their free throws for 25 points.

But there was no shortage of mistakes that led to the defeat. The most glaring was the second half, when UNLV gave up 12 of its 19 turnovers.

The worst of it unfolded when the Rebels allowed a 7-0 Bulldogs run over the final six seconds of the game.

That stretch was sparked by UNLV guard Al Green getting fouled on a fast break with six seconds left but also getting called for a flagrant foul of his own that allowed Fresno State to make it a one possession game with their free throws.

Pastner said that while he simply saw Green attempting to get open on that pivotal play, officials told him it appeared Green hit Bastien Rieber in the neck.

The Rebels then allowed David Douglas Jr. ‘s 3-pointer to tie it with one second left on the clock only for Howie Fleming Jr. to turn it over when it was time to inbound the ball, paving the way for Heidbreder’s closing shot.

Rebels’ foul play

Fleming finished with 23 points, a performance first-year coach Josh Pastner lauded while taking accountability for the closing error, citing a miscommunication. Pastner wanted a foul and admitted he should’ve called a timeout.

“That’s not on Howie, because it’s on me to make sure that the guys fully understood,” Pastner said. “He was a warrior today.”

Freshman guard Issac Williamson scored 14 points and fouled out with 1:27 left to play, while Kimani Hamilton also scored 14 points and fouled out with 1:07 left to play. Emmanuel Stephen fouled out with 36 seconds left and finished with two points.

Early blunders included UNLV failing to secure easy transition points five minutes into the game as Stephen collided with Gibbs-Lawhorn because they were both attempting to dunk the same alley-oop pass from Williamson.

By the end of the first half, the Rebels barely held on to a 50-49 advantage after starting the game on a 16-8 run.

Ultimately, even Pastner — famously never at a loss for words — took a while to find an apt means to contextualize the loss.

“Tough pill to swallow, tough loss,” he said. “Really disappointing. Had chances to win and just didn’t get it done.

“We just kept fouling late. … We tried to give the game away 10 times and they ended up catching us on the 10th time.”

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Callie__Fin on X.