Oh, Brotherson

Victoria Sun

Tuesday, Nov. 16, 1999 | 10:37 a.m.

At first glance, it's no wonder Danny Brotherson says he has been mistaken for a surfer before.

He has a bleached-blond mane on top of his head and the build of a surfer with well-toned, but not completely sculpted, muscles.

Make him available for a pickup game on the asphalt courts at Venice Beach, Calif., where the basketball movie "White Men Can't Jump" was filmed, and he would probably be picked last -- even after Woody Harrelson.

The guys smart enough to pick him, though, wouldn't regret it.

Brotherson, playing with a sore arch, scored 11 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out five assists to help UNLV trounce the California West All-Stars 104-87 on Monday night in an exhibition game before an announced crowd of 10,102 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

When Brotherson wasn't diving on the floor to grab a loose ball, he was leaping through the air for a rebound against a team that included former NBA player Charles O'Bannon out of UCLA and Jason Williams from Pacific.

Brotherson entered the game with 15:12 remaining in the first half. At halftime, he was the subject of more than one discussion at the concession stands which started this way: "I hadn't really heard of that Brotherson guy, but he's pretty good."

Junior center Issiah Epps, who also played well, offered this analysis of Brotherson:

"He looks slow," Epps offered. "He looks like he can't play basketball.

"But when I think of Danny Brotherson, I think of Larry Bird. Danny's a good playmaker like Bird, he's tough and he can definitely play. Larry Bird's got some championship rings and that's it right there."

Brotherson may never be as well known as the former Boston Celtics legend and he says that's fine with him.

He helped lead Virgin Valley High School in Mesquite to a league and state title in 1995, but said that few Division I schools were willing to gamble on him. Virgin Valley is a small school with about 400 students and only 95 in his graduating class.

So he played two years at Utah Valley State College.

"I was not highly recruited out of high school, but people always knew that I was athletic for, you know ..."

Brotherson paused before adding in a comic voice, "For a white guy, and they knew that I could jump.

"Maybe at first impression, people don't think I can play. I mean that's the impression that people get of white guys today. They aren't athletic and they can only shoot.

"Like tonight, maybe they (the other team) didn't think about anything that I was gonna do anything so it's fun that way. I'm sure I did surprise some people whether it was the crowd or the team or whatever it may be."

He wasn't the only one who played well.

Epps, who was suspended for the first exhibition, also showed the toughness he displayed as a teenager at Maine Central Institute under UNLV assistant coach Max Good.

Since Epps became a Rebel two years ago, he has been hampered by nagging injuries.

But against the All-Stars, Epps made seven of nine shots and grabbed five rebounds.

"I just had to make up for the first game," Epps said. "This summer I worked out hard and I got a lot of stuff to prove to myself and my family.

"Tonight I said 'Why not have fun?' The last couple of years, everyone was too serious and I don't do well in those types of situations. I like to relax and have fun when I play."

Epps, Brotherson and Sylvester Dotson provided the defensive tenacity the Rebels needed to spark the team off the bench.

The Rebels surprised some people by looking fabulous against a team that had previously beaten Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico.

During the team's first exhibition game, a 103-97 win over Global Sports, the Rebels did not defend well and were outrebounded 51-39.

Head coach Bill Bayno made sure the team practiced defense all week to get prepared for this game. And it worked.

The Rebels' defense forced the All-Stars to shoot 38.2 percent from the field and won the battle on the boards, 52-41. Six Rebels, led by Trevor Diggs with 19 points, scored in double figures.

"We knew that first game our defense was going to be behind," Bayno said. "I was proud to see the translation.

"We worked a lot on defense, and yet we didn't give up too much on offense. I thought maybe we might struggle on offense because we worked so hard on defense all week and we didn't."