The UNLV basketball team held a 10-point lead in the first half of its season opener tonight against UT-Martin at the Thomas & Mack Center in coach Josh Pastner’s Rebel debut.

But the Rebels committed 22 turnovers and surrendered 47 second-half points, paving the way for the Ohio Valley Conference visitors to steal an 86-81 victory.

Although UNLV is rebuilding under Pastner while trying to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 12 seasons, it’s fair to call this an upset — and a disappointment.

UNLV was a 17-point betting favorite and looked like the superior team for stretches of the first half before running out of steam.

That could be attributed to the Rebels missing several projected rotation players due to injury, and Kimani Hamilton — one of their top players — fouling o

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