Nevada guard Ramon Sessions, center, passes the ball while Saint Mary's center Omar Samhan, right, defends. Nevada won, 76-58, Tuesday in Reno, Nev.

Reno, Nev. ? Nevada coach Mark Fox can’t say enough about Nick Fazekas’ abilities.

Fazekas scored 19 points to become the first player in school history to top 2,000 career points, and the 25th-ranked Wolf Pack beat St. Mary’s, 76-58, Tuesday night.

“He’s been the perfect example of what a student athlete should be,” Fox said.

“He goes to school. He’s going to get a degree. He plays the game the right way, works at it in his free time and the offseason. He’s being rewarded for his efforts and he’s a talented kid.”

Marcelus Kemp went 4-for-4 from three-point range and finished with 20 points for Nevada (8-1), which outscored St. Mary’s 13-1 in the first four minutes of the second half to bounce back from a home loss to UNLV on Saturday.

Diamon Simpson had 18 points and Brett Collins 16 points and nine rebounds for the Gaels (6-5).

Fazekas, a 6-foot-11 senior who entered leading the NCAA in rebounding with 14.1 per game, became the 12th player in the Western Athletic Conference to score 2,000 career points and just the fifth to top 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.

Fazekas now has 2,005 points. He also had five rebounds to move into second on Nevada’s career rebounding list with 1,018 rebounds, passing Edgar Jones, who had 1,016 from 1975-79.

“I didn’t expect to do that when I first came to Nevada,” said Fazekas, who considered forgoing his senior year to enter the NBA draft but decided against it. “For me to pass all these records and put my name in the record book, it feels good.”

Nevada opened the second half with a 16-3 run, including two three-pointers by Kemp, one by Denis Ikovlev and a three-point play by Fazekas for a 46-26 lead with 14:45 remaining.

St. Mary’s pulled to 48-35 on Wayne Hunter’s basket off a rebound but Fazekas answered with an 18-footer.