Rebels pounded by Colorado State 80-55

Steve Addy

Saturday, Feb. 3, 2001 | 3:59 a.m.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- The Rebels had another brutal start Saturday, but this time there was no comeback to rescue them.

Unlike last Saturday's overtime win over San Diego State, UNLV fell behind Colorado State by 19 points after only 11 minutes and hardly put up a fight, suffering an 80-55 loss at Moby Arena.

Hitting 3-pointers and getting inside for easy layups, Colorado State bolted to a 29-10 lead by the 8:31 mark and that was basically the game. The Rebels went on an 11-0 run to cut the gap to eight, but CSU quickly pumped the lead back to 19 with 1:28 left in the half.

UNLV didn't get closer than 14 in the second half and trailed by as much as 28, going scoreless for spans of 5:35 and 3:27.

With their worst point output since last season's 96-52 loss at Utah, the Rebels sagged to 12-9 overall and 3-3 in the Mountain West. And things don't get any easier, with first-place Wyoming next on the schedule Monday night at Laramie.

If the Rebels don't muster a better effort in that game, they're bound to get embarrassed again on ESPN, as they were Jan. 15 in a 28-point Big Monday loss at BYU.

Colorado State was able to do pretty much as it pleased. The Rams made 9-of-17 3-pointers, shot 48 percent overall and dominated the boards 46-31, grabbing 17 offensive rebounds.

"We didn't declare war on the backboards," Rebels coach Max Good said. "But I am not blaming anything on the players. As the head coach, it's my responsibility. I didn't have us ready."

"We finished the game so strong against San Diego State, but we didn't carry it over," Trevor Diggs said. "I don't know what happened. (CSU) has some really good shooters."

Ron Grady fueled CSU (12-7, 3-3) with 23 points, making 4-of-6 3-pointers. John Sivesind scored 17, David Fisher added 13 in 17 minutes and Garrett Patik had 11.

UNLV, which shot only 36 percent (20-of-56), was led by Lou Kelly's 16 points off the bench. He scored eight straight in UNLV's 11-0 run. Kaspars Kambala scored 15 and had nine boards. The Rebels made only 6-of-24 3-pointers.

The Rebels played without power forward Dalron Johnson, who sat out his second straight game with a sprained ankle. The Rebels hope he'll be ready Monday.

"He'll continue to get treatment and we'll see if he can play," Good said.