Long time coming

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, March 8, 2000 | 10:27 a.m.

New Mexico swingman Lamont Long streaks past a few defenders like they are orange pylons set out for a drill, contorts his body, switches hands for an easy layup and then -- nothing.

Not a smile, nor a smirk nor a glare appears on his face.

Just the same stoic expression he has been wearing since he was a child.

"I'm a real quiet guy," he says. "I keep the same face the whole time.

"Some people see me and I have this dull look and they think that I'm intimidated. But little do they know I'm on the ball."

Were it not for Long, UNLV center Kaspars Kambala would have ended the Mountain West Conference's inaugural regular season as the overall scoring leader.

Long ended up atop the category after he scored 18 points last Saturday in the Lobos' 80-67 loss to the Rebels at the Thomas & Mack Center.

He finished the regular season averaging 18.8 points overall and 20.4 points in conference play.

Long, a 6-foot-4 senior from Tempe, Ariz., can play point guard, shooting guard and small forward.

He dribbles mostly with his left hand and shoots mainly with his right, although he is ambidextrous. He is an outstanding slasher and can shoot 3-pointers when needed, the type of player coaches want their best defender to handle.

"I just wanted to stop him," said UNLV's Trevor Diggs, who did a pretty good job, holding Long to 8-of-20 shooting here last Saturday. "He's a great shooter, so I didn't want him to get anything easy."

Although Long is known for his offense, he's just as dangerous defensively. He finished second in the conference in steals with 2.03 a game.

Last Saturday, Long was busy holding UNLV point guard Mark Dickel to 4-of-11 shooting although Dickel was credited with 12 assists.

"He's tough," Dickel said. "I think he's an NBA player."

Were it not for Long's change of heart in May -- when he decided to withdraw his name from the 1999 NBA Draft -- first-year Lobos coach Fran Fraschilla would have been in for an even longer season.

Long said he put his name in for the draft to see how many teams were interested in him, then withdrew it so that he could try to improve his stock by playing in Fraschilla's up-tempo system.

But by December 30, the Lobos were 7-7 with an almost unheard-of five losses at home at The Pit, their dreaded home court. Before this season, New Mexico had gone 71-3 at home from 1995-99.

"In the games where we got swept by our two rivals, UTEP and New Mexico State, you know that hurt me a lot," he said. "It just took us a longer time than we anticipated to turn the table.

"There were a lot of players here that were used to coach (Dave) Bliss' mentality. And to have coach Fran come in with the East Coast mentality, it was kind of a struggle between the players and the coaching staff, but I think we kind of made the turn."

Since then the team has gone 10-5, winning eight of its last 11 games. The turnaround started after Fraschilla talked to Long about increasing his court presence.

Prior to this season, he played comfortably in the shadows of teammates Charles Smith, picked in the first round of the 1997 NBA Draft by the Miami Heat; and Kenny Thomas, picked 22nd by the Houston Rockets last year.

"He's taken off," Fraschilla said. "I think the biggest thing he struggled with early was how much of a go-to guy he needed to be for us.

"I wanted him to have more (offensive responsibility). He has made a mental adjustment to the fact that he is our go-to guy and we do need him to play well most nights."