UNLV holds on to beat BYU

Steve Carp

Saturday, Feb. 21, 1998 | 11:53 a.m.

PROVO, Utah -- With UNLV, free-throw shooting is a hit-or-miss proposition. You never know when the Rebels will be on their game at the foul line or be honorary members of the masonry union with all the bricks they toss up.

Saturday at the Marriott Center, the Rebels were both bricklayers and Rick Barry wannabes. UNLV missed some key free throws down the stretch as they were trying to hold off Brigham Young's late comeback. But they had made enough earlier in the contest to give itself a cushion.

And when the Rebels made six of their final eight tries, in guaranteed they'd leave BYU with a win. So chalk up the 84-76 victory to good triumphing over bad.

"This team has been unbelievable and it has struggled," coach Bill Bayno said of his team's performance from the line. "Tonight, we were smart down the stretch and we got the ball in the hands of the guys who were playing well. We made enough big shots to win."

Kevin Simmons, who had a strong double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds, was one of those who Bayno could trust to toe the line. Simmons was 7 of 8 from the stripe and Tyrone Nesby, who sparked the victory with 22 points, was 6 of 8.

And the Rebels welcomed back center Kaspars Kambala to the season as the 6-foot-9 freshman from Latvia overcame some serious foul trouble to finish with 12 points and nine rebounds. He too, made a strong contribution at the foul line, hitting 6 of 7.

"I think Kas' strong week of practice carried over to tonight," Bayno said. "He showed he was back. He played hard and didn't back down after he had a couple of tough fouls called on him."

Kambala was saddled with his fourth personal less than three minutes into the second half. But Bayno used him judiciously and Kambala played smart by not trying to force things.

He also had Nesby to take much of the heat off him. The 6-6 senior who was struggling with his shot in the first half and scored just four points, caught fire after intermission. He knocked down a couple of 3-point field goals early in the half. He attacked the basket and got himself to the line. And he had a couple of showtime dunks, one with just over six minutes to go that stalled a BYU rally, the other a two-hand rim-rattler courtesy off an alley-oop, off-the-backboard pass from Greedy Daniels in the final seconds.

"We wanted to keep attacking the basket," Bayno said. "We had some quickness advantages on the perimeter and Tyrone did a good job of exploiting that."

UNLV had several chances to take control of the game in the first half. But defensive breakdowns led to a couple of BYU scoring spurts as the Cougars were able to maintain contact.

The first was a 10-3 mini-run that brought BYU back from a 16-10 deficit to lead 20-19. The second flurry which came on the strength of four straight 3-pointers over a 2:19 span late in the half, pulled the Cougars within two at halftime, 36-34, after trailing 29-20 with 3:37 to go in the half.

"This is not a team that's going to go down without a fight," said BYU coach Steve Cleveland, whose team may still make the WAC tournament despite a 2-10 record in the Mountain Division, 7-20 overall. "UNLV has big-body players, bigger than we've got. Nesby hit two big-time jump shots and he played outstanding basketball."

The Cougars were able to stay in it thanks to Ron Selleaze, who poured in a career-high 31 points, and Brian Hamilton, who scored 14 off the bench, including three 3-pointers.

But despite just two field goals in the final 4:56, UNLV had enough to hold off Selleaze and Co. The Rebels finished up 34 of 45 from the line. And when you shoot 76 percent from the stripe, you're going to give yourself a chance to win.

"Absolutely," said Bayno, whose team improved to 5-6 in the WAC Mountain, 14-11 overall heading into Monday's nationally televised game against Utah in Salt Lake City. "We didn't have a lot of time to work on our free throws, but the guys came through.

"BYU has gotten a lot better and we caught them at their best. So it's a big win. It would have been tough to go up to Utah had we lost this one."