UNLV able to save face with rally

Steve Addy

Monday, Dec. 31, 2001 | 10:36 a.m.

Don't bother with any hokey nicknames. The Rebels don't want to be labeled as the Comeback Kids or Rallyin' Rebels or anything like that.

UNLV used another second-half blitz, its latest trend, to beat Old Dominion 84-76 on Sunday night before an announced crowd of 9,951 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

But rather than embrace their fortitude, the Rebels are mystified and concerned by their inability to get out of first gear until it's almost too late -- a riddle they prefer to solve before hosting Wyoming on Saturday in the Mountain West opener.

It has become a nightly storyline. The Rebels fall behind by double figures, or let an inferior opponent stay too close, then try to parlay five to 15 solid second-half minutes into a victory.

It worked against Loyola Marymount (down 16 at halftime) and Tennessee State (ahead by only one early in the second half). It almost worked against Texas, when UNLV trailed by 17 with 14 minutes left, then got within one before tiring and losing.

This time, the Rebels didn't run out of steam, because they didn't get started until only 5:41 remained. With a 21-4 spurt keyed by guards Marcus Banks and Jevon Banks, UNLV turned a 69-59 deficit into an 80-73 lead. Each Banks scored seven in the run, Dalron Johnson five.

Before that, the Rebels (7-4) were clearly outplayed, showing little inclination to guard the more energetic Monarchs (6-5), who calmly turned back a series of UNLV mini-rallies. But once the Bankses got hot, the script seemed to dictate that UNLV pull out the win.

But all parties are growing weary of the recurring plotline.

"I don't want to come from behind," said Marcus Banks, whose 31 points marked his career high for the fourth straight game. "We haven't really figured it out ourselves, but I guess we like playing from behind. We don't want to do that anymore. That's living dangerously."

Coach Charlie Spoonhour diagnosed his club's early struggles, though solutions seem elusive.

"At the start of the game, for whatever reason, we wander out of what we are doing. We've got four guys watching one guy play," he said. "If the ball goes in, everything is wonderful. If it doesn't, there's no defense, no rebounding, no flow, and you have only so many timeouts.

"We have to make corrections in the way we start and finish games. But we closed this one out pretty well."

Guard Vince Booker said, "It's like we have to get the fans crazy, get them booing us. Then we get them hip-hip-hooraying. When we get behind, something seems to click inside us, telling us to get after it. We need to locate that switch and turn it on before the game."

"We've got to sell tickets somehow," walk-on wisecracker Noel Bloom said of the dramatic finishes.

Though the Rebels' readiness for the MWC season is uncertain, this much is certain: as long as Marcus Banks is playing this way, they will have a chance to win any game.

With successive games of 22, 26, 29 and 31 points, the 6-foot-1 junior guard is on the hottest scoring streak of any Rebel since J.R. Rider. Banks' 108 points are the Rebels' most over a four-game period since Rider's 122 from March 4-13, 1993, his final four UNLV games.

Banks also became the first Rebel with four straight 20-point games since Tyrone Nesby in February 1997 (23, 22, 20, 30). Neither Shawn Marion nor Kaspars Kambala had more than three in a row, and their highest four-game outputs were 95 and 99 points, respectively.

"I think you know that when Marcus goes out there, you're going to get some baskets. And he hit all of his free throws," Spoonhour said.

Banks went 11-of-11 at the line, and he had company in excelling there, as UNLV was 27-of-33 for 81.8 percent, its best figure all season. In fact, that's where the Rebels won the game, going 18-of-22 in the second half to ODU's 0-of-4.

Dalron Johnson was also strong in the second half, with 13 of his 19 points and nine of his 14 rebounds. Chris Richardson added 12 points. John Waller's 20 led Old Dominion.