Alexander helps Oklahoma defeat UNLV

Victoria Sun

Sunday, Dec. 19, 1999 | 10:42 a.m.

Glendon Alexander was just the lift the Oklahoma State men's basketball team needed off the bench, which amounted to bad news for UNLV.

Alexander made 7-of-10 field goals, including four 3-pointers, to help the 14th-ranked Cowboys (9-0) to a 89-75 victory over the Rebels (6-2) in the finale of the Las Vegas Showdown Saturday night.

In the first game, No. 4 Arizona (9-1) disposed of Nebraska (4-5), 80-59.

While Alexander heated up in the second half in front of a season-high 12,693 at the Thomas & Mack Center, the Rebels cooled off to sub-freezing temperatures.

As a team, UNLV made 2-of-14 3-pointers and 13-of-35 shots in the second half. Add that to 1-of-12 shooting from long distance in the first half and it spells trouble.

"I thought there were a couple turnovers and then it just boiled down to missed shots," UNLV head coach Bill Bayno said of the second half. "We got open looks.

"I don't know how many of the 26 three's were forced. We didn't shoot it quick. We reversed the ball. When we got it to the high post we were able to get some stuff inside.

"But for the most part they packed it in and you gotta make shots."

Kaspars Kambala led the Rebels with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Trevor Diggs and Mark Dickel had 14 each.

The fact that the Cowboys played a 2-3 zone for most of the second half was one reason why UNLV's offense sputtered.

Freshman Dalron Johnson helped give UNLV its biggest lead of the game.

After he blocked Brian Montonati's lay-up, he fed Dickel for his own lay-up to put the Rebels ahead 42-38 with 19:24 left in the game.

Johnson played an aggressive game and finished with 13 points and five rebounds, but the Cowboys turned the game around in an instant.

Oklahoma State's leading scorer, Desmond Mason, made the first of two free throws, then Alexander followed Mason's miss with a tip-in that sparked a 14-0 run and put the game out of reach.

During that run, Alexander also made two consecutive 3-pointers to give Oklahoma State a 53-44 lead.

Mason scored a game-high 23.

"Once we got ahead of them, I think we did a better job maybe of putting them on defense and working for good shots," Cowboys' coach Eddie Sutton said. "Especially when we got the lead near 10 points.

In the first half, neither team trouble making shots.

The Cowboys shot 60 percent to the Rebels' 50 percent.

The biggest lead for either team was three points, and the game was tied eight times.

With 27 seconds left in the first half, Joe Adkins hit a jumper to tie the game 38-38, leaving UNLV with the last shot.

Dickel then fed Kambala for two of his 12 points of the half, to take a 40-38 lead.