Smiles to go

Victoria Sun

Monday, Nov. 29, 1999 | 11:02 a.m.

Was that a smile on the face of UNLV men's basketball coach Bill Bayno shortly after his team passed the test posed by one of the beasts of the Big East?

After the Rebels (4-0) outhustled, outmuscled and simply outplayed visiting Georgetown (2-3) for an 85-69 victory at the Thomas & Mack Center on Sunday afternoon, it was impossible for even Bayno to contain his enthusiasm.

And yes, he was smiling.

"That was the team that I envisioned having," Bayno said. "Offensively, when we push the ball, we're tough.

"By attacking, it opens up offensive rebounds for us. The nice thing is we didn't play very well. And we didn't shoot very well. We just played hard. We did those little things we talked about to win."

It was a gritty win to say the least.

The Rebels shot a horrendous 30.6 percent from the field and found themselves trailing at the half, 33-29, for the first time all season.

UNLV's Trevor Diggs made only 1-of-10 shots in the first half but wound up with a game-high 27 points. Kaspars Kambala played with four fouls in the second half en route to 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Danny Brotherson displayed his usual heroics off the bench by diving all over the floor for loose balls, helping out defensively on double-teams and finding creative ways to score.

After Kambala picked up his third foul with 5:22 left in the first half sending Hoya Nat Burton to the line, he argued the call and was assessed a technical foul -- his fourth personal.

"That could have been the game," Bayno said. "He comes out, we lose a potent offensive weapon.

"And that really did have a lot to do with us struggling. I told our guys, 'We've blown everyone out. How are we gonna react and handle being down?' "

The answer: Just as Bayno hoped the team would.

Both teams played a 2-3 zone in an attempt to slow the other one down in the first half and it worked on both ends. But the Rebels switched back to a tenacious man-to-man defense in the second that led to some easy baskets.

Kambala sat out to start the second half and Georgetown went on a 6-2 run in his absence.

Bayno called time, then reinserted Kambala in the game, a move that gave the team a new life.

Kambala hit a jumper his first trip up the floor, then Diggs followed with a key steal and a layup to pull the Rebels within four points.

Another Georgetown miss led to one of Brotherson's team-high 11 rebounds and Diggs sank a 3-pointer to cut the lead to one, 39-38.

The Rebels went on an 18-7 run sparked by Mark Dickel's 3-pointer to take the lead for good.

Diggs, who entered the game averaging a team-high 17.3 points, made the biggest turnaround in the second half.

"I was a little down at halftime," Diggs said. "I mean, I'm playing Georgetown the first half of my college career and I'm shooting like this."

So he did just what the coaches told him. He drove the lane first and shot second, which enabled him to show off some of the athletic playground moves he learned growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y.

When Diggs wasn't creating off the dribble or hitting soft jumpers off the glass, he was darting past Hoyas for layups.

"I thought Vegas did a particularly good job of pushing the ball up the floor then looking to score right away when the floor was spread," said Georgetown coach Craig Esherick. "Particularly Diggs in the second half.

"He played fantastic. They have an explosive team. They have a lot of weapons, a lot of guys that can push the ball up the floor."

The Hoyas shot free throws as if they learned from Shaquille O'Neal. Georgetown also appeared tired. It had been on the road for the last week at the Maui Invitational in Hawaii.

Georgetown made an abominable 11-of-30 free throws.

"It's inexcusable for a major college team to shoot the way we did from the free-throw line," Esherick said. "It was demoralizing to our guys."

While morale was low for the visitors, it picked up for UNLV.

Freshman Dalron Johnson, who struggled in the first three games, split time with junior Chris Richardson.

Both played with the intensity Bayno stresses.

"We want to fight and scrap no matter who we play," Johnson said.

"(But) this win is real big."

The Rebels meet Princeton at 4 p.m. Friday in the first round of the Food Lion MVP Classic in Charlotte, N.C.

* LOOK WHO'S WATCHING: Former Arizona State basketball coach Bill Frieder and former USC coach George Raveling watched the Rebels dismantle the Hoyas. The two were in town to discuss issues regarding Michael Jordan's fantasy basketball camp that will be held next Aug. 17-20 in Las Vegas. Raveling helps run the camp and Frieder is a coach at the camp. Frieder said he also will be a color analyst for the Sports West television network during two Rebel games in February.