LAS VEGAS — San Jose State needed a big play in what turned out to be a wild finish Saturday night against UNLV.

As it turned out, the Spartans got a few in the 33-27 overtime victory.

After quarterback Kenny Potter connected with running back Tyler Ervin on 4th down and 10 for a 21-yard touchdown with 1:08 left in regulation, Spartans defensive end Isaiah Irving blocked a 43-yard field-goal attempt on the first overtime series.

From there, it was all Ervin, as SJSU quickly moved through the Rebels on its first drive in the extra period, culminating with a two-yard touchdown run.

“Football is a game of give and take, and sometimes they’re going to make plays,” Ervin said. “We had to continue to make plays and just do what we do. I think we did a good job staying persistent.

“We knew we had to kick it into high gear if we wanted to win the game. To do that we had to step up our game a little bit and I think we did that late in the fourth quarter.”

San Jose State (3-3 overall, 2-1 in Mountain West play) beat the Rebels for the sixth straight time. UNLV (2-4, 1-1) saw its five-year win streak in conference home openers snapped.

The victory didn’t come easy for SJSU.

The Spartans squandered a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, needing their late touchdown by Ervin to get back in the game. UNLV responded by driving 43 yards in nine plays before Nicolai Bornand booted a 49-yard field goal with 11 seconds left.

“Credit UNLV, they just kept coming and kept coming and got some big plays out of some guys,” San Jose coach Ron Caragher said. “Next thing you know they’re up by four with four minutes left in the game. We knew we had to keep our foot on the throttle.”

Potter, who missed the previous two games because of an ankle injury, struggled in the first quarter. But he finished 30 of 48 for 329 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

“I just kept telling my guys to keep their trust in me and that I’ll come around,” Potter said. “The rest of the game I played through our system. I made the decisions our coaches talked about all week at practice. That’s all I really needed to do.”

Ervin entered the game second in the nation in rushing, averaging 160.2 yards per game, also struggled early. But he came up big down the stretch and finished with 73 yards on 18 attempts and a touchdown, and caught eight passes for 74 yards.

In addition to the Potter-Ervin connection, Caragher said it was the best performance by his special teams unit this season, crediting kicker Austin Lopez, who had a season-high five kickoffs that were touchbacks in the game.

“As a coach on the coverage unit, you want your guys coached up to cover well,” Caragher said. “But that’s really nice to have that every once and awhile … touchback kicks. Plus he was 2-for-2 on field goals. I’m very proud of that unit.”

San Jose State’s win marked the first time this season the Spartans came from behind for a victory.

“I told (UNLV coach) Tony (Sanchez) I didn’t think any team should have lost that game, because they both fought to the end,” Caragher said. “We’re happy to be on this side of it, but they shouldn’t hang their heads cause they played a really competitive game.”

UNLV’s Sanchez, in his first year coaching the Rebels after spending the previous six with national powerhouse Bishop Gorman High School, coached at San Ramon’s California High School. As he did with Gorman, and he’s trying to do at UNLV, Sanchez resurrected Cal High in five years, turning the once dreadful program into a state power under his watch.