UNLV shows closing kick against Aztecs

Steve Addy

Monday, Jan. 29, 2001 | 10:01 a.m.

At the end of a long week, the Rebels' tank wasn't empty after all.

Just when it appeared UNLV might be too weary to muster meaningful resistance to San Diego State, the Rebels played some of their most aggressive ball of the season.

Overcoming the obvious fatigue from a week that had already included a home victory over New Mexico and a cross-country trip to Georgetown, the Rebels reached down for something extra to gain an 82-72 overtime win over the Aztecs on Saturday night.

Swarming the ball on the perimeter and dominating the backboards, UNLV held SDSU to five baskets in the final 16 minutes. The Rebels' game-ending 10-0 run and 12-2 OT scoring edge were almost totally due to their defense.

After a poorer start than they could have imagined -- a 15-4 deficit after seven minutes -- the Rebels put on one of their best finishing kicks of the season to beat the Aztecs for the 10th time in a row. UNLV is 12-8 overall, 3-2 in the Mountain West, good for third place.

"After the Georgetown game, we decided as a staff to give the players Friday off," coach Max Good said. "We felt we could do that because San Diego State plays a lot of the same zones -- with different personnel -- that Georgetown does.

"Most of the first half, I was second-guessing myself for not practicing. We had such a terrible start. That's the worst start we've had all year."

But in the end, Good was glad he let his players conserve their strength. The finish was something to behold, even if it came against one of the MWC's lesser lights, and even though UNLV let the Aztecs off the hook late in regulation. A 70-65 Rebels lead with 22 seconds left turned into a 70-70 tie and overtime.

Instead of being crestfallen in the extra session, as they were in earlier OT losses to Louisville and Oklahoma State, the Rebels dominated the rest of the way.

Trevor Diggs, who played all 45 minutes, stole an inbounds pass for a layup to make it 78-72 only seconds after Jermaine Lewis' 3-pointer. Diggs then made a midcourt steal, leading to a dunk by Sylvester Dotson, and also fed Kaspars Kambala for a game-ending layup.

"After we came back that far (from 13 points down), we had to finish it out," Diggs said. "I was proud of the way everyone kept battling. In the timeouts, I kept telling everyone we were going to win it with our defense."

Good was also impressed with his players' resolve, particularly because the Rebels trailed for 33 straight minutes before finally going ahead on Vince Booker's free throws with 3:52 left in regulation.

"We would cut (the deficit) to four, then you'd look up and it would be right back up to nine again," Good said. "Usually when that happens, you're through. It was like we couldn't get over the hump, or even to the hump."

Good trimmed his rotation to the bare essentials during the grind-it-out comeback. He played the same lineup most of the way -- Diggs, Dotson, Lewis, Booker and Kaspars Kambala -- and Chris Richardson was the only other Rebel to play in the second half or OT.

But that group was suprisingly fresh down the stretch. Kambala made his last seven shots in a 22-point night, Lewis scrambled for an OT steal that led to a Kambala basket and Dotson grabbed four straight rebounds in the last three minutes.

"With all the timeouts and fouls, we were getting built-in rest, so luckily we were able to play guys longer minutes," Good said.

After three games in six days, the Rebels didn't have many more minutes in them.