Free throws, defense pay dividends for Rebels

Steve Carp

Friday, Jan. 15, 1999 | 10:34 a.m.

You're not going to paint a masterpiece every night. Sometimes, you have to settle for stick figures on butcher paper and hope it's good enough to pass the test.

Rice simply wasn't going to let UNLV run at will, and the Rebels had to come up with something else to produce their 78-72 Western Athletic Conference win Thursday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.

You wouldn't have believed it unless you happened to be among the announced crowd of 12,840 that bore witness to UNLV actually winning a game from the foul line.

That's right, free throws and a healthy dose of defense got the job done against a scrappy, hard-nosed, well-coached team that had won just two conference road games in two-plus years but gave Bill Bayno's team all it could handle.

The Rebels, shooting just 62 percent from the charity stripe on the season, made 20 of 24 free throws in the final 6 1/2 minutes as part of a 72-percent evening (26 of 36).

They also grabbed enough rebounds at both ends to preserve the victory after squandering an 11-point lead midway through the second half.

If it wasn't Shawn Marion dropping in foul shots, it was Kaspars Kambala or Kevin Simmons. And while Mark Dickel struggled at times at the stripe, his 3-for-6 effort late was contribution enough to push the team's winning streak to five, and up the Rebels' overall mark to 9-6 (2-0 WAC Mountain).

"You gotta do whatever it takes to win," said Simmons, who had 10 points and eight rebounds, including a huge clutch offensive board on a Dickel missed free throw with 13.2 seconds to go and UNLV clinging to a 75-69 lead.

"Some nights, it's defense. Others, like tonight, it's free throws."

Kambala, still suffering from the lingering effects of a cold and a slight fever from earlier this week, had one of his best all-around games in his two years at UNLV.

The 6-foot-9 sophomore dominated inside and had 24 points and 13 rebounds. He had the luxury of being played straight up most of the night as the Rebels had a clear domination of the boards, 44-22.

"I was wondering why they didn't double me," Kambala said. "Coach told me to expect it. I'm just glad they didn't."

By the time Rice collapsed on Kambala, Marion and Brian Keefe were making the Owls pay.

Keefe had the unenviable task of trying to cover Robert Johnson, the WAC's second-leading scorer at 21.8 a game.

Johnson finished with 26 points, but he got them in bunches when Rice was trying to play catch-up. And Keefe got a few of those back as the senior co-captain finished with 16, going 4 for 6 from 3-point land.

Marion quietly but effectively had 18 points and nine rebounds. He also had a couple of steals to help keep the Owls in check after they clawed their way back into it midway through the second half.

"This is a tough team for us," Bayno said of Rice, which dropped to 11-4 overall, 2-1 in the Mountain Division. "They're really going to execute their sets. It's all half-court and it puts a lot of pressure on you defensively.

"I give our guys credit for hanging in there. When we were struggling in the second half, I went back to the starters and they responded."

A 15-1 run wiped out UNLV's 51-40 lead and the Rebels found themselves trailing 55-52 with just over eight minutes to play. The ball had stopped dropping and the turnover count was climbing when Bayno got his starters back in.

UNLV, which managed just seven field goals the entire second half, had just two over the final four minutes. But the free throws were falling and the Rebels were on the boards.

Simmons' grab of a loose ball with 13.2 seconds to go was the biggest. Rice was still in a two-possession game and given what has happened around the country this year with fantastic finishes, that six-point UNLV lead was anything but safe.

When Dickel's errant free throw was up for grabs, Simmons outleaped Alex Bougaieff, grabbed the ball, went back up and got hacked by Bougaieff. His two free throws sealed it.

"I saw he was just standing there on the last free throws and I knew he wouldn't box out hard," Simmons said of beating Bougaieff to the ball. "So I decided to go for it."

It was another sign that Simmons is taking his leadership role on this team seriously.

"Definitely," he said. "This team (Rice) is better than I thought. They're good and they play together. But this is a big win for us. We weren't able to play the way we want to and we had to adjust and we did."