Stewart breaks out as Rebels roll

Steve Addy

Sunday, Jan. 23, 2000 | 1:10 a.m.

Steve Addy

With a strong game by unheralded starter Donovan Stewart, UNLV maintained its ardent pursuit of first place in the Mountain West Conference on Saturday night.

Stewart, whose 4.8 scoring average is the lowest among UNLV's starters, scored a season-high 17 as the Rebels breezed to an 83-55 victory over San Diego State before an announced 11,924 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The Rebels' third straight victory boosted them to 12-4 overall and 3-1 in the MWC, behind only Utah (3-0). SDSU dropped its fifth straight and dipped to 5-11, 0-3. UNLV has won six straight in the rivalry and leads it 18-4.

Stewart fell two points shy of his career high, 19 last season against Nevada-Reno, but almost doubled his previous best output of the season, nine points against Fairfield on Nov. 21.

Allowing its second-fewest points of the season, UNLV's man-to-man defense confounded San Diego State most of the night. The Rebels led by as many as 17 in the first half, despite shooting a paltry 36 percent, then pushed their lead as high as 30 with 1:43 left in the game.

"The biggest thing is we didn't have a letdown (after two straight road wins)," Rebels coach Bill Bayno said. "When we were up 20, we could've easily gotten complacent. Our guys are starting to figure out that you can't take any possessions off."

Trevor Diggs also had 17 points for UNLV, while Kaspars Kambala supplied 13 with nine rebounds. Point guard Mark Dickel scored 10 with 10 assists. For SDSU, Myron Epps had 22 points as the only Aztec in double-figures.

UNLV used an 11-0 spurt in the first half for a 30-13 lead, then started the second half with a 16-5 run for a 57-32 lead with 14:41 to play. Stewart scored seven in the second-half burst.

The Rebels did some of their best work in the first half while Kambala was on the bench after committing a flagrant foul against SDSU center Joe Mann. In Kambala's absence, UNLV scored the next 11 points in a 1:11 span with three 3-pointers and a jumper.

Diggs began the run with a 3-pointer after a Dickel steal, Dickel banked a triple off the high glass and Diggs hit another 3-pointer in transition after the Rebels blocked two shots on the other end. Dalron Johnson's jumper from Dickel on the right side ended the run.

The Rebels went without a basket for the next 6:19, but it scarcely mattered, as SDSU couldn't get the deficit under double-figures the rest of the night.