UNLV squanders Marion’s effort

Steve Carp

Tuesday, Feb. 23, 1999 | 9:43 a.m.

It was the stuff legends are made of. Too bad it got lost in the loss.

That was Shawn Marion's take in the wake of a mind-boggling career-high 34-point, 21-rebound, six-steal performance that went for naught as UNLV was unable to put Texas Christian away and the Horned Frogs escaped the Thomas & Mack Center Monday with a 76-72 win.

"It's frustrating to play that well and lose," Marion said. "I knew it would be a good game. They're a good team.

The Rebels, who have now dropped three of their last four and are hanging by a thread atop the WAC Mountain Division at 8-4 (15-10 overall), will need to sweep Colorado State and Wyoming on the road later this week to avoid playing in the opening round of next Tuesday's WAC tournament. First place means a first-round bye, a couple of important days off, and the need to win just three games instead of four to grab the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament that comes with the WAC tourney title.

UNLV can forget about any NCAA at-large bid. Not with double-digit losses. Not with a slump at the end of the season. And not with an offense that once again stalled out down the stretch.

For as great as Marion was, he took just one shot in the final five minutes -- a 3-pointer with 26.1 seconds to go to bring UNLV within 73-72 after Marquise Gainous drained a couple of free throws five seconds before.

"I don't know what it was," Marion said of his lack of touches once again in crunch time. "They were in a zone and I had a couple of guys around me. But we had open shots. We just needed to make them and we didn't.

"We talked about getting me and Kevin (Simmons) established early. I was just in the flow of the game, so I just kept shooting."

Coach Bill Bayno defended his players' decision to try to win it while bypassing their star for the most part in crunch time.

"It was our game to win," he said. "If we make one of those threes, we win.

"I'm not upset with our kids. We had wide-open looks because they were doubling and tripling Shawn. We just couldn't make them when we needed to."

Hitting consistently from the perimeter has been a season-long malady for the Rebels. Once again, they got virtually nothing from the shooting guard spot. Senior Brian Keefe and freshman Desmond Herod were a combined 0 for 12 from long distance, Keefe going a frigid 0 for 9.

And at the end of the game, it was Keefe who tried to tie it with a trey from the top of the key. But Gainous ran out at him as he let it go with five seconds left. Keefe had to adjust his shot on the way up and bricked it harmlessly off the back iron as TCU got a much-needed split to improve to 18-9 overall, 6-6 in the Mountain.

The Horned Frogs are tied for fifth with Colorado State with home games remaining Thursday against Rice and Saturday vs. Tulsa.

"I should've just drilled it," Keefe said. "I probably shouldn't have adjusted it, but the bottom line is I missed it."

UNLV made just three field goals in the final five-plus minutes, Marion's trey being the biggest to keep the Rebels in it late. He was 5 of 9 from the arc and he said it was just a matter of getting opportunities.

"I can shoot that shot," he said of the trifecta. "Once I can get my rhythm, I'm OK. Tonight, I got shots."

After Marion was not part of the offense down the stretch in Saturday's loss to SMU, there was a conscious effort to get him the ball early and often. And the 6-foot-7 junior from North Chicago delivered.

TCU had no one capable of stopping Marion and by halftime, he had 20 points and 14 rebounds.

"What did he have?" TCU coach Billy Tubbs asked of Marion's numbers. When told he had 34 points, 21 boards and a half-dozen steals, Tubbs chuckled and said, "We really stopped him here for a few minutes, didn't we?

"He's a great player. The way we play, people tend to do that."

But Monday, it wasn't enough. For even though the Rebels managed to finally outrebound an opponent (53-44, 21-15 on the offensive glass), they couldn't make a shot, be it a field goal, a 3-pointer or a free throw when they needed to. A 57 percent effort at foul line (15 of 26) and another tough night for Simmons (7 of 12 including a missed pair on a first-half technical to Tubbs), found the Rebels unable to extend what few offensive flurries they managed to piece together. UNLV wound up shooting just 31 percent from the floor in the second half.

And the sad thing for UNLV was it managed to contain Gainous and Lee Nailon. Nailon, the WAC's leading scorer at 23.1 points a game, was held to 16, though he did have 16 rebounds. Gainous, who went for 41 the last time the two teams met Jan. 23 in Fort Worth, got 20 Monday.

"Hey, we're still in first place," Bayno said, trying to put a positive spin on what has become a deteriorating situation. "We knew it would be tough. But we've got two games left."

Two chances for redemption. Two chances to figure out what it takes to win. Especially when your top gun is going great guns.