Eddie House couldn’t miss against Rebels

Steve Carp

Monday, Dec. 7, 1998 | 4 a.m.

PHOENIX -- If this is going to become an annual rite of passage, UNLV coach Bill Bayno needs to find some other ritual.

Last year, it was Air Force's Jarmica Reese who singlehandedly made life miserable for the Rebels when he scored 40 points. This year, Eddie House was the one-man wrecking crew as he turned America West Arena into his own personal playground.

The 6-foot-1 junior had a career-high 39 points in Arizona State's 79-70 win Saturday, the second-highest performance in school history. House was chucking them in from everywhere, even with Rebels hanging all over him.

He finished the first half by nailing a long 3-pointer with Kaspars Kambala in his face. Then he busted a trey over Shawn Marion's outstretched arm. By the time he was done, House had scorched virtually everyone in a red uniform.

"Everything he threw up went in," Bayno said. "He just killed us."

The Rebels went zone in trying to stop House. No matter. He just took his shots deeper. UNLV went to a gimmicky box-and-one with Greedy Daniels hawking House. But with the Sun Devils screening smartly and House hardly missing, that ploy failed as well.

"Things just came to me today," House said. "I always want the ball in crunch time. I'm a competitor."

ASU coach Rob Evans said: "You have to give Eddie's teammates a lot of credit. They did a good job of getting him open."

Cowboys impress

The Pac-10 had things its way Saturday as Arizona beat Wyoming 94-84 in the nightcap. But the WAC/Mountain West's other participant came away from the loss feeling a lot better about itself than UNLV did.

"I think it was a good experience for us," first-year coach Steve McClain said of playing the 13th-ranked Wildcats. "Let's see what we learned from it."

Unlike last year's group under Larry Shyatt which played slow-down, walk-it-up basketball, this Wyoming team was running with Arizona and played without fear. It was 66-66 with fewer than 10 minutes to play before Arizona went on a 15-4 run to pull away, 81-70.

McClain, who was an assistant to Billy Tubbs at Texas Christian before taking over for Shyatt upon his return to Clemson, said he learned one thing about his team from Saturday's performance.

"If we can mentally stay in a game for 40 minutes, we can play with anyone," he said.

Small crowd

This doubleheader was supposed to be a trial run for the NCAA West Regional in March. But less than half the building was filled, so it's hard to say how America West Arena held up.

Actually, things will be just fine come mid-March. The 8,127 who saw the Arizona schools win will have some company if they return in a few months. Approximately 1,200 upper level seats for the Regionals went on sale today.

They were gone in the same amount of time it takes Eddie House to launch a 3-pointer.

Hoop du jour

UNLV has now lost three straight games to Pac-10 opponents and is 18-13 lifetime against the Pac-10. ... A reminder that "The Bill Bayno Show" airs at its regular time at 7 p.m. Tuesday on KXNT 840-AM. ... With his 20 points and 12 rebounds, Shawn Marion posted his second straight double-double. He has three double-doubles in his first seven games. Marion had two blocked shots, giving him a team-high 17. ... The 22 turnovers against ASU were the most since Dec. 30, 1996 when UNLV coughed it up 26 times against Northern Arizona.