Cowboys ambush Rebels

Steve Addy

Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2000 | 10:06 a.m.

LARAMIE, Wyo. -- When Utah visits the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday night, UNLV will not be fighting for a share of first place after all.

Instead, the Rebels will be hoping to prove they're not pretenders to the Mountain West throne.

Saturday's game was shaping up as an opportunity for the second-place Rebels to pull even with the No. 19 Utes for the MWC lead. The Thomas & Mack might have been packed for the first time in years in anticipation of a win that would finally flash the Rebels onto NCAA radar screens.

They could still accomplish the latter goal, but after Monday's cringe-inducing 109-98 loss to Wyoming, UNLV will need to come back from its poorest defensive effort of the season. Not even top-ranked Cincinnati (106) or North Carolina (102) ran up as many points on the Rebels.

Almost nothing went right for UNLV, which trailed by 33 with 16 minutes to play and had to suffer the indignity of Wyoming surpassing 100 points with more than five minutes to play. The final margin was deceivingly close only because of spirited play by Mark Dickel and Rebels subs, who limited Wyoming to 12 points in the final eight minutes.

There is no shame in losing at the Arena-Auditorium, where the Cowboys are 9-1, and the Rebels can take some solace that they beat Colorado State in the trip's opener. But the way they lost Monday could sap some of the confidence they stockpiled while winning their previous four games.

At 4-2 in the MWC, the Rebels are still second to Utah, which climbed to 6-0 Monday by beating New Mexico. While Wyoming deservedly improved to 13-8 overall, 3-3 in the MWC, UNLV tumbled to 13-5 with the Utes up next.

"This league is going to be a war. It hasn't changed," UNLV coach Bill Bayno said. "Utah is the front-runner and everyone else is in a seven-team war for second place. Now we have to get back and have great practices."

"We need to leave this game behind us now," Dickel said. "There is no point in dwelling on it. We've got a top-25 team coming to our place Saturday. If you can't get ready for that, there's something wrong with you."

On a night when most of the Rebels didn't have any zip in their legs, Dickel was an exception. His 29 points were a career high, he had 10 of UNLV's 14 assists and he played 39 minutes. The Rebels got 14 points from Dalron Johnson, 11 from Kaspars Kambala and 10 from Donovan Stewart.

But there was little joy in statistics for Dickel, especially because 19 of his points came in the second half, which was mostly garbage time after the Cowboys' 20-5 spurt handed them an 83-50 lead with 16:08 left.

Dickel was disturbed that Wyoming had such an easy time. The Cowboys had closed the first half with a 31-12 run in a 7:53 span, putting them ahead 63-45 at the break. If that did not remove all mystery about the outcome, their second-half jump-out did.

"It just hurts, because I know we are so much better than this," Dickel said. "Wyoming is a good team. I understand all that. But there's no way we should be down 30 to anybody. If we're playing the way we're capable, that's not going to happen."

It was obvious early that the Rebels were sluggish, and their eight turnovers in the first six minutes were only half of the problem. They offered little defensive protest, either under the basket or on the perimeter. The aggressive defense that characterized their winning streak was missing in action, and Wyoming's first-half shooting percentage (63) matched its point total.

Anthony Blakes' career-high 26 points led Wyoming. Bradley Mann scored 19 off the bench, while Josh Davis scored 18 and LeDarion Jones 17.

* REBEL NOTES: Kambala had a poor game against Wyoming's sagging defense, hitting only 4-of-11 shots, scoring 11 and grabbing only four rebounds. Bayno played him only 20 minutes.

"He was out there trying, but he just didn't have that spring in his legs," Bayno said. "He has been getting a lot of wear and tear, and these Saturday-Monday games are tough." ...

Bayno was happy with his subs, who kept the outcome from being even worse. He got good minutes from Chris Richardson, who had seven points and four rebounds and should have been credited with two blocked shots. Ike Epps and Chris Popoola were also productive. ...

The Cowboys' 109 points were their second-most ever in the Arena-Auditorium's 18-year history. They scored 113 against Denver in 1987. ...

Air Force junior guard Jarvis Croff is the Mountain West player of the week after compiling 35 points in the Falcons' 60-55 upset of BYU and 64-63 loss to Utah.