Rebels nearly beached

Steve Addy

Friday, March 10, 2000 | 10:46 a.m.

For a team supposedly primping for an NCAA Tournament bid, the Rebels looked remarkably like an NIT wallflower Thursday night.

They will get another chance to prove their worthiness tonight, but if the Rebels' unimpressive 77-72 victory over lowly San Diego State was not a sufficient slap in the face, they could find themselves sidelined in advance of Saturday's Mountain West championship game.

And that would surely translate into an NIT bid, not the NCAA berth that UNLV so cherishes.

In a truly awful game inflicted upon the country via ESPN, the top-seeded Rebels escaped with a win, but with their pride somewhat bruised. They had routed the Aztecs by margins of 28 and 21, contributing to SDSU's 0-14 Mountain West record, but there was no laughter around the Thomas & Mack Center this time, only relief.

Even after taking a 14-point lead with 1:11 to play, the Rebels couldn't close the game strong, giving up a 14-6 San Diego spurt until the clock mercifully expired. Coach Bill Bayno felt duty-bound to apologize for the poor finish, and the rest of the game wasn't so terrific either.

"This was a big game, and we were a little tight," Bayno conceded. "We were not making shots against their zone. When that happens, you're in for a war, and that hurt our confidence on the other end. But I think it was important that we found a way to win the game and move on."

The game contained a tournament's worth of anxious moments for UNLV, especially with 7:45 to go when the surging Aztecs closed to within 52-50 after a 5-0 run. But freshman Dalron Johnson was re-inserted and took over, scoring seven points in five minutes to spark a 16-5 burst that gave the Rebels a 68-55 lead with 2:10 left.

"It took us a while to get going, but we won and we have to put this behind us fast," Johnson said. "There's no time to dwell on it."

Now the Rebels (21-7) take on Wyoming (19-11) at 9 tonight in the tournament semifinals, having traded home routs with the Cowboys during the season. To a man, they vowed a better performance than in Thursday's victory, their eighth straight at home.

"We realize that we can't afford to play Wyoming this way," UNLV guard Mark Dickel said after having to play all 40 minutes, compiling 16 points and nine assists. "We have beaten San Diego big twice, and it's almost human nature to expect you're going to do it again. Now that this is out of the way, I hope we'll relax and play better."

Trevor Diggs said, "Everybody was expecting us to blow out San Diego like before. When you are supposed to win, sometimes it makes you tight. Then when you're not blowing them out, you start to say, 'Oh-oh.' I'm just glad we got past them and we get to play another game."

The Rebels had an odd season series with Wyoming. They gave up a season high for points Jan. 31 in a 109-98 loss at Laramie, a game the Cowboys led by 33 five minutes into the second half. At the Thomas & Mack Center 12 days later, UNLV had a 32-point lead at almost the same stage in an 87-60 pounding of Wyoming.

"We can't relax because we beat them here," Bayno insisted. "That doesn't mean anything now. It probably makes it even harder for us. Wyoming will be that much more ready this time, and we need to play much harder and much better than we did tonight."

San Diego's zone gave the Rebels fits in the first half, because Kaspars Kambala wasn't able to find room to operate under the basket. The Aztecs put two and sometimes three defenders on him, forcing the Rebels to shoot from the perimeter. They were 0-of-9 on 3-pointers before the break and were fortunate to lead 35-31.

Kambala finished with 19 points and 17 rebounds, one under his career rebounding high, while Diggs scored 12 and Johnson 11.