Rebels get free from Tark trap

Steve Carp

Tuesday, Feb. 18, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Jerry Tarkanian didn't win 663 games by happenstance. So when Tark sprung his little surprise on UNLV in the second half of Monday's game with Fresno State, it caught the Rebels' guards off-guard.

However, Bill Bayno has been around the game long enough to know how to adjust. He took a timeout he really couldn't afford to burn, but it paid off as the Rebels made the necessary adjustments, took better care of the ball and went on to post a big 78-64 victory.

The Bulldogs were trailing by 12 points and were in danger of getting blown out of the Thomas & Mack Center. But Tark called for a halfcourt trap, and sure enough, UNLV started turning over the ball. Fresno State eventually pulled within one, 53-52, with just under six minutes to play.

Bayno had used up his 20-second timeout allotment and was forced to spend one of his two full timeouts. It left him with one and 6:26 still remained.

"We had to use it," he said. "We weren't doing a good job against their pressure and we needed to get the ball to our big guys and take care of it."

The Rebels adjusted, handled the press the rest of the way and moved into a tie with Fresno for second place in the Pacific Division at 8-4.

"I don't know what happened on the 20," Bayno said. "I thought we had one, so I'll take the blame for that. But we had to call time at that point and get ourselves organized."

But even though they forced 18 turnovers, the Bulldogs couldn't take full advantage of the opportunities. They shot themselves out of the contest by hitting just 34 percent from the field.

"We've really struggled to make shots on the road," Tarkanian said. "It's been a problem all year."

And with the Rebels handling the trap, Fresno was forced to foul. UNLV made 13 of 16 tries from the free-throw line over the final six minutes to pull away. The Rebels shot 73 percent from the stripe in the second half and finished the game at 66 percent.

Tough night for 'Dogs

Fresno State got killed on the boards Monday, giving up a season-high 61 rebounds. Warren Rosegreen's 21 caroms was the most by an FSU opponent since 1978.

But that's only part of the sorry story.

The 64 points scored were 18 below FSU's season average and it was the second-lowest output of the season. The 34 percent field-goal percentage was the worst of the year and it comes on the heels of Saturday's 35 percent performance at Air Force.

"I'd like to think our defense had something to do with it," Bayno said.

Hoop du jour

* REBELS GET SPLIT: Monday's win gave UNLV a split of the season series with Fresno State. The Rebels have a 24-5 lead in the series. ... The Rebels' lengthy streak of 347 consecutive games with a made 3-point field goal barely survived as they were 1 for 14. Sunshine Smith netted the lone trey and was 1 for 7. ... FSU center Rahsaan Smith had 18 points and Darnell McCullough 12 to join Chris Herren, who led all scorers with 23. ... Conversely, Damian Smith, who had earned his reputation for being Mr. Monday Night after averaging 19 points a game on Big Monday, was held scoreless while playing just four minutes. Coach Bill Bayno elected to stay with his starters as Sunshine Smith went 34 minutes.

* ROJOS INVADE FLOOR: Imagine Jerry Tarkanian's surprise when he went to shake hands with Bill Bayno after the game and found the floor swarming with kids in red T- shirts. The Rojos, UNLV's student support section, were celebrating, and many of them wanted to shake Tark's hand. But the players from both teams didn't think that was such a hot idea and they surrounded the bewildered coach from the Rojos before he was able to leave the floor. However, Tark did meet several of them back out on the court after his postgame press conference and all turned out well for everyone.