Utah turns back Rebels 79-70

Steve Addy

Saturday, Jan. 13, 2001 | 9:55 a.m.

SALT LAKE CITY -- UNLV's shooters went cold at the worst time Saturday.

Tied 63-63 with 3:47 to go, the Rebels were held without a basket for the next three minutes as Utah put on a 10-0 spurt and pulled away for a 79-70 victory.

Wearing new black uniforms before 13,508 at the raucous Huntsman Center, UNLV's seven-game winning streak ended and it fell to 10-6 overall, 1-1 in the Mountain West. Utah is 10-6 and 2-0, having already beaten Wyoming, so the Utes are in early command of the MWC race.

It was Utah's 39th straight conference win at home.

For most of the game, that streak was in jeopardy as the Rebels refused to be blown out like they were in last season's 44-point stinker at Huntsman. Despite careless ballhandling and streaky shooting, UNLV kept plugging away and rallied from a 53-45 deficit to tie it at 63.

But then everything fell apart for the Rebels. Jermaine Lewis missed a wide-open 3-pointer that would have sent UNLV ahead with 3:19 to go, Vince Booker missed a 3, Trevor Diggs missed a long 2-pointer and Booker missed another 3.

Utah rebounded all four misses and scored after the final three, including fast-break layups by Britton Johnson and Nick Jacobsen to make it 72-63 with 1:34 left.

When UNLV finally scored again on Dalron Johnson's put-back dunk with 47 seconds left, it trailed by eight.

"We settled for jump shots late in the game," UNLV coach Max Good said. "In all fairness, we got good looks at the basket. Jermaine and Booker both had wide-open 3s, and I don't fault them for taking those shots.

"I'm very proud of these guys today. Utah is very good. It's one of those games where you have to give credit where credit is due."

Diggs said, "We had our chances at the end and that's all you can ask for. But we had a couple cold streaks that hurt us."

In fact, the Rebels didn't play well at the close of either half.

In the first half, they led 33-28 and had the ball with 1:05 to go. A good possession could have put them ahead eight. But Lewis turned it over on the fast break and Utah exploited the error. Jeff Johnsen scored on a put-back, then Phil Cullen made a tying 3-pointer with six seconds left.

"Our guys know they are never supposed to leave Cullen alone, not for one second," Good said. "He put a dagger in us right at halftime."

Utes point guard Kevin Bradley, a former UNLV recruit, hurt his former would-be team by scoring a team-high 13 points off the bench. He was a handful for the Rebels all day, swishing three 3-pointers and spinning around Lafonte Johnson in the lane for a nifty layup.

Britton Johnson added 12 points for the Utes, Cullen 11 and Travis Spivey 10.

Diggs scored 14 to lead UNLV and Lafonte Johnson and Kaspars Kambala supplied 12 each.

The Rebels were hurt at small forward, however. Lou Kelly made his first start for UNLV, but he shot only 1-of-6 in 16 minutes. Lewis looked like he might emerge from his shooting slump, hitting two straight baskets in the second half, but missed the 3-pointer that UNLV needed most.