Kambalian effort

Victoria Sun

Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2000 | 10:27 a.m.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Freshmen R.T. Guinn, Rafael Berumen and Marlon Parmer weren't the answers for the struggling New Mexico basketball team.

Neither was senior stud Lamont Long.

Given the way UNLV played Monday night there wasn't much any of the Lobos could do, especially against Rebel big man Kaspars Kambala.

Kambala recorded career highs of 32 points and 18 rebounds to lead the Rebels to an 85-73 victory over the Lobos before a subdued 16,771 at University Arena, more commonly known as The Pit.

It was UNLV's second consecutive Mountain West road win and improved the team's record to 11-4 and 2-1 in the MWC. The Lobos dropped to 9-9, 1-2.

The win was significant for UNLV. It showed it has the potential to be a force in the conference and helped the team put a tough home loss in the conference opener against BYU behind it.

"Unbelievable," UNLV point guard Mark Dickel said of the win. "Huge.

"It just doesn't get any bigger. We had our backs against the wall after losing against BYU and we won."

Kambala and Dickel put on such a show, they even managed to quiet Lobos first-year head coach Fran Fraschilla after the game. Dickel had 16 points, nine assists and six rebounds.

Kambala alone was so impressive (12-of-20 from the field, 8-of-11 from the free-throw line and 15 defensive rebounds) that he hushed the usually raucous crowd at The Pit, rendering New Mexico's homecourt advantage almost useless.

"There really isn't much to say about this one," Fraschilla said. "They just overwhelmed us athletically and that's really what it came down to.

"They're much more athletic and they obviously outplayed us. They're just a better basketball team. They're more athletic, they're deeper. It was just men versus boys tonight."

All season long the Lobos have been playing without a true center, so Fraschilla inserted the 6-foot-9 Guinn into the starting lineup to try to stop Kambala, then used 6-foot-8 Berumen and 6-foot-7 senior forward Damion Walker to help out.

It really didn't matter.

Kambala muscled his way inside and forced the Lobos to foul him. When they tried to keep him out of the paint, he would calmly pull up for a jumper.

"It was just a lack of experience for those two freshmen and a lack of help," a dejected Walker said. "What it came down to was heart.

"I felt we like we ran out of gas or something. We didn't play with the same freshness we had early."

While the Lobos went stale in the second half, the Rebels were just getting started.

Before the game, Kambala did a little shadow boxing during the warm-up to get himself psyched up for the game, and it seemed to work.

"I got a few baskets I didn't have to put any effort (into) because I got such good passes from Trevor (Diggs), Mark (Dickel) and even Dalron (Johnson)," the 6-foot-9 Kambala said. "It's just a great team effort.

"I kind of chose also to try to post up a little closer to the basket so I didn't have to take a dribble and I could go straight up.

"The whole team was in a zone. If I didn't do (something), the team took over."

The Rebels did a great job defensively by stopping Long, New Mexico's leading scorer who was averaging 17.5 points and 5.1 rebounds entering the game.

Danny Brotherson, Diggs and Donovan Stewart did the brunt of the work guarding Long, and held him to just 5-of-18 field goals for 12 points.

Whenever it looked as if the Lobos were gaining momentum, Brotherson would drive the lane to create some offense or fight hard to box the Lobos off the glass.

Stewart also hit a few key shots, including a reverse layup to give UNLV a 69-58 lead and a 3-pointer to extend UNLV's lead 48-40.

Johnson, a former teammate of Parmer at Verbum Dei High School in Los Angeles, chipped in 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Rebels.

While Johnson looked comfortable cleaning up on the boards and dunking in his teammates' missed shots, Parmer had a tough time stopping Dickel, who drove the lane at will and had few problems pulling up to take 3-pointers.

The Lobos hung around in the first half with an 11-0 run to tie the game 36-36 with 2:06 left, but the Rebels scored the final four points before the break to take a 40-36 halftime lead.

* BUMPS AND BRUISES: About two and a half minutes after junior college transfer Lou Kelly entered the game against New Mexico on Monday night, he limped off the court with an injury to his right foot. UNLV trainer Dave Tomchek said that Kelly will be reevaluated this morning by Dr. Gerald Higgins.

Kelly was competing in his second game of the season and made his debut during the team's 98-73 victory over Air Force on Saturday.

* NEXT: The Rebels will host San Diego State at 7:35 Saturday before a two-game road trip to Colorado State and Wyoming.

* ETC: UNLV outrebounded New Mexico 54-41 and had five more assists than the Lobos. The Rebels shot 44.7 percent in the first half and 45.2 percent in the second half.