LAS VEGAS (AP) — UNLV keeps finding ways to win, despite having poor stretches during games.

Anthony Bennett and newcomer Khem Birch — the Canadian Connection — helped the Rebels jump out to another big first-half lead and then hold on in the second half.

Bennett had 20 points and 12 rebounds to lead No. 21 UNLV to a 73-59 victory over Northern Iowa on Wednesday night in the Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge.

Bennett, who had three blocks, was 7 of 12 from the field, including hitting two 3-pointers, and all four free throws.

“I just let the game come to me, not to force shots,” said Bennett, who is from Brampton, Ontario. “(Birch), that’s my boy, although we don’t come from the same area. I used to see him at AAU games. Sitting out must be hard. He’s fast, he gets steals, and scores.”

Birch, from Montreal, had to sit out the fall semester as a transfer redshirt from Pittsburgh, added 11 points, nine rebounds and two steals in his second game of eligibility for the Runnin’ Rebels, who have won eight straight.

“Khem Birch was terrific tonight,” UNLV coach Dave Rice said. “I knew he would be inspired from game one to game two. (Bennett’s) only agenda is helping his team to win. He is mature beyond his years. When you have a high-level player like Anthony Bennett, it raises your expectations.”

The Rebels struggled at times in the second half after leading 43-22 at halftime.

“We didn’t move the ball as well in the second half,” Rice said. “Northern Iowa is fundamentally sound. Good teams are going to make a run, but we answered them down the stretch. Our versatility on defense makes us a tough matchup.”

Marc Sonnen had 15 points and Anthony Jones added 13 for Northern Iowa (6-5), which is 0-3 against Top 25 opponents this season. The Panthers were held to 33 percent shooting from the field.

UNLV returned to the Thomas & Mack Center after being away for 18 days due to the National Finals Rodeo. The Rebels went 4-0 during that span, winning three road games — two barely — and an easy home game from away from home at the Orleans Arena.

Anthony Marshall had nine points, four assists, and three steals for the Rebels, who escaped two nights earlier with a 62-60 win at UTEP.

“Our coaching staff did a terrific job on short time with the game plan,” Marshall said. “The luxury of our guys is playing a lot of positions. Having guys like that makes the game easy. It’s hard to keep playing at the same intensity. To be an elite program, we’ve got to fix it.”

Jake Koch had 11 points and eight rebounds for the Panthers.

UNLV jumped to leads of 16-4 and 21-8 in the first 10 minutes of the game.

“Any time you play at home, you have an opportunity to play pretty well and UNLV is terrific at home,” Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson said. “They’ve proven they can win on the road, but anytime you play at home, you have an advantage before the game starts.”

Bennett scored 14 points with eight rebounds in the first half, including nine points in the last 5:30.

UNLV shot 49 percent in the first half, while Northern Iowa was at 30 percent. The Rebels converted 6 of 12 from 3-point range in the first half.

“(UNLV) has good big men and good guards,” Sonnen said. “They play really well together. They shot the ball well. You can just see they really have fun playing well together.”

After the Rebels built their largest lead at 24 points early in the second half, the Panthers slowly chipped away, cutting the lead to 62-49 with 5:55 left, but got no closer.

The Rebels outscored the Panthers 28-16 in the paint and 24-15 off the bench.

“(UNLV) did the things they do best and we weren’t able to take them away,” Jacobson said. “So you give them credit for what they do best … play in transition and play in the early part of the shot clock.”

The Panthers have a rigorous non-conference schedule, playing and losing already to No. 5 Louisville, Stanford, then-No. 19 Memphis and Iowa.

The last time the teams met was in the 2010 NCAA tournament’s first round as the Panthers won 69-66 on Ali Farokhmanesh’s 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds left in Oklahoma City. That was the teams’ only previous meeting.

Northern Iowa has had recent success in Las Vegas, winning its past six games, including two in 2010 at the Las Vegas Classic across The Strip at the Orleans Arena.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Seth VanDeest scored 19 points, including two straight baskets in the closing minutes, to lead Drake to a 72-69 victory over North Carolina Central on Wednesday night. VanDeest’s layup with 1:36 remaining gave the Bulldogs (5-5) a 68-66 lead, and he added another basket with 47 seconds left to make it a four-point game.

A 3-pointer by Stanton Kidd brought NC Central within 70-69 with 31 seconds left, but after Richard Carter hit two free throws for Drake with 11 seconds left, two 3-point attempts from the Eagles (5-6) in the final 3 seconds were off the mark. Ben Simons added 16 points for Drake, which hit 10 of 21 3-point attempts. Carter had 13 points and five assists. Kidd and Jeremy Ingram each had 23 points for NC Central, which was playing for the first time in 15 days.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Tyrus McGee hit six 3-pointers and finished with 20 points, and Iowa State rallied behind a big second-half run to beat Missouri-Kansas City 76-61 on Wednesday night. Chris Babb added 12 points and Korie Lucious and Anthony Booker had 11 each for the Cyclones (9-3), who got everything they could handle from the Kangaroos (4-7) in the rare case of a Big 12 heavyweight visiting a school from the Summit League.

Estan Tyler matched a career-high with 17 points for the ‘Roos, including a basket with just over 16 minutes left that gave them a 39-35 lead over the stunned Cyclones. That’s when Iowa State finally started to get some transition baskets going, and the result was a 14-0 run that spanned the next 5 minutes and allowed the Cyclones to seize control.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Devyn Marble continued his red-hot shooting with 27 points, leading Iowa to a 90-46 rout of South Carolina State on Wednesday night. The Hawkeyes (10-2) are off to their best start since 2004-05. Marble scored 21 points in the first half — one more than South Carolina State (4-8) did as a team. The junior guard connected on a season-high six 3-pointers. He played only four minutes in the second half.

The Hawkeyes led 11-9 early in the first half when they exploded with a 19-4 run during a six-minute stretch. Matthew Hezekiah led South Carolina State with 12 points. The Bulldogs shot only 25 percent from the floor.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State says junior college running back Aaron Wimberly and three other recruits have committed to play for the Cyclones. Wimberly rushed for 1,150 yards and 13 touchdowns in leading Iowa Western to the NJCAA national title. Iowa State also landed junior college tight end Emmanuel Bibbs, who caught six TD passes for Arizona Western this fall. The Cyclones have brought in a pair of high school prospects from Orlando; linebacker Alton Meeks and lineman Shawn Curtis. Wimberly and Bibbs were second-team All-Americans at the junior college level this fall. Wimberly, Meeks and Curtis will join the Cyclones next semester and be eligible for spring practice.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Romeo Crennel isn’t worrying about his future with the Kansas City Chiefs. The veteran coach says he’s focused solely on trying to pluck off a win or two down the stretch in what has turned out to be a season of misery for the Chiefs. Not only is the team 2-12, but it’s also had to deal with a murder-suicide involving one of its players.

Crennel has been in the business for more than four decades, though, and he understands how tenuous jobs can be in pro football. He was fired after four seasons in Cleveland, one year after guiding the Browns to a 10-6 record. The Chiefs host the Colts on Sunday before visiting Denver to finish out the season, and Crennel says “the only control I have is trying to win a game.”