Utah’s Mottola spurs team on to win over UNLV

Steve Carp

Monday, Jan. 26, 1998 | 9:20 a.m.

In one felled swoop, Hanno Mottola changed the entire complexion of Saturday's UNLV-Utah game and no doubt caught the eyes of the 20 or so NBA scouts who were on hand at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The 6-foot-10 sophomore forward from Helsinki, Finland took UNLV's Keon Clark to the hole and proceeded to throw down a windmill slam dunk in the Rebel slam master's face.

At the time, the basket merely tied the score at 8-8 and only 5 1/2 minutes had expired. But Mottola's dunk gave his Ute teammates an emotional lift while seemingly deflating the Rebels, who couldn't believe their main man had just suffered an in-your-face disgrace.

It triggered a 32-12 Utah run that put the game out of reach as the No. 4 Utes led 40-20 at halftime.

"I don't know if my dunk got us going," Mottola said. "I think it was our defense and rebounding. We played hard defense the first 10 minutes and we controlled the boards."

Mottola finished with 19 points, as did teammate Michael Doleac. Coach Bill Bayno, seeing Clark couldn't handle the Flying Finn, switched his big man on Doleac. But the results were the same. Doleac hit jumpers over the 6-11 Clark. And when the UNLV senior came out on him, Doleac went by for layups or dunks.

Utah coach Rick Majerus was pleased to see Mottola take the initiative.

"He's his own worst enemy at times," Majerus said. "He can be more assertive and he needs to look for his opportunities like he did today (Saturday)."

Ex-Rebel visits

One of Bayno's first recruits stopped by the Thomas & Mack Saturday. And no, Ben Sanders wasn't looking to return to play for UNLV.

The one-time Rebel ironically, is being recruited by Utah. Sanders, who is playing at Fullerton (Calif.) Junior College, is looking to resume his Division I basketball career and the Utes are among the teams he's interested in.

"It would be a good situation," he said of playing for Majerus.

The 6-2 Sanders also is looking at Utah State, Oregon State and Loyola Marymount, the school located just a few blocks from his home in Westchester, Calif.

"I'm still deciding what I want to do," he said. "But I'm having a lot of fun on the court."

Sanders, who came to UNLV as a projected shooting guard in 1995, has been playing the point at Fullerton. He's averaging 21 points, six rebounds and six assists a game.

Best start ever

It was a milestone win for Utah Saturday. But you wouldn't know it talking to the players.

With the 67-54 victory over UNLV, the Utes improved to 17-0, which represents the best start in school history. The 1912-13 team won its first 16.

Utah and Stanford remain the only undefeated Division I schools in the nation after the Cardinal squeaked by Washington 74-72 Saturday in Seattle.

"Nobody talked about it," Mottola said of the record. "We're just worried about winning the next game."

Nesby's tough day

It wasn't the kind of game Tyrone Nesby wanted in front of a national television audience and the many NBA scouts on hand Saturday.

The 6-6 senior who leads UNLV in scoring had his worst day as a Rebel, playing just 20 minutes and finishing with only five points and 2-of-9 shooting. It was only the second time this year Nesby, who averages 17.7 points, has been held under double digits.

"I'm very upset about it," he said of his play and his benching by coach Bill Bayno. "I thought I was going back in, but I never did."

Bayno said with Donovan Stewart playing well in the second half, he wasn't going to make a change. Stewart played the final 15 minutes Saturday.

Nesby's previous low was seven points at Colorado State last year.

Hoop du jour

* 'SWORDS IN TOWN: Chaminade, tonight's opponent, meets UNLV for the first time. The game is part of an agreement that has the Rebels participating in the Maui Classic in 2000. ... The Silverswords, who play in the Division II Pacific West Conference, are 6-10 after winning at Hawaii-Hilo Friday. Darnell Clavon, a 6-1 senior guard out of Detroit, leads Chaminade with a 22.0 average. ... The Silverswords average 81 points a game.

* BUSY STRETCH: Tonight's game is UNLV's third in the last five days and is part of an extended five-game run over 10. The team leaves Wednesday for Colorado State and will play the Rams Thursday at Moby Arena. Saturday, the Rebels are in Laramie to play Wyoming at the Arena-Auditorium. UNLV earned a split on last year's Front Range trip, winning at the Double A and losing at Fort Collins.