Lewis helps Rebels take care of business

Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2002 | 10:04 a.m.

Even though he walks through graduation ceremonies today at 4 p.m. inside the Thomas & Mack Center, Jermaine Lewis knows that his work on the basketball court will be far from finished.

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound UNLV swingman will continue sticking his nose in among the sequoias and securing critical rebounds for the next three months.

Tuesday night, Lewis' blue-collar work gave the Rebels the edge they needed late in the first half against pesky Tennessee-Martin, and UNLV eventually ran away with a 101-78 victory before an announced crowd of 10,878.

Lewis tied for team-high scoring honors with 17 points, hitting eight of his nine free throws. He also led the Rebels with eight rebounds, snatching half of those under his own basket.

"You have to have that in you. Every day, you have to have that in you," said UNLV sophomore guard Ernest Turner.

"Isn't that something?" said Rebels coach Charlie Spoonhour. "He's 6-4, and he wanted 10 rebounds. That's something that just shows you, you set your jaw and say you can do something, and he does it. That's the best example."

Averaging eight, Lewis entered Tuesday's game as the Rebels' best rebounder.

"He just gets after it," said UNLV senior point guard Marcus Banks. "And you know what? This is just the beginning for him."

Lewis wanted two more boards Tuesday so he could claim the first back-to-back double-doubles of his career. He had 12 points and 10 rebounds in UNLV's overtime victory at Bradley last Saturday.

"Guys are trying to block out Dalron (Johnson) and J.K. (Edwards), so I just run in there and try to get them, to make sure we get second shots," Lewis said. "I just try to watch and see when guys take shots. Then, when other guys get blocked out, I try to run around and jump for the rebound."

With two minutes remaining until halftime, UNLV held a precarious 35-30 lead when Lewis yanked down an errant shot by Turner, got fouled on the put-back attempt, hit both free throws and then converted easy shots on the Rebels' next two possessions.

That fueled UNLV to take a 44-32 lead into the half.

Lewis said Spoonhour hammered home the idea that the Skyhawks (6-2) play just like Alabama-Birmingham, which taxed the Rebels (6-1) in their nine-point victory over the Blazers last month.

Tennessee-Martin mostly relied on a 3-2 collapsing zone defense that forced UNLV to be patient.

"It's all we were working on in practice -- swing the ball two or three times on reverses, and we'd get good shots," Lewis said.

UNLV raced to a 12-2 lead, then received a boost from Demetrius Hunter as the guard's 3-point shot gave the Rebels a 29-24 lead after Martin had eked to within two points.

Lewis provided the adrenaline at the end of the first half, and his conversion of a three-point play less than six minutes into the second half gave UNLV a 57-48 advantage.

After James Peters sliced in for a layup to make it 66-55 with 11:33 left, the Rebels led by double figures the rest of the way.

Earl Bullock, Martin's 6-1 junior guard, tattooed the Rebels for 26 points, which included a 5-for-11 effort behind the 3-point line that kept the visitors from getting totally blown out.

Bullock drilled a 3-point shot with 12:04 left to cut the Skyhawks' deficit to 64-55, but he didn't score again until his flip-in off a rebound trimmed UNLV's lead to 92-70 with 3 1/2 minutes left.

"I just went out and played," Bullock said. "We started out well. At the end, we just couldn't hold them. They were sinking everything, inside and out."

Lewis did, too, and now he has only basketball to concentrate on at UNLV.

The criminal justice major from Houston could not thank director of basketball operations Dave Rice or academic advisor Julie Johnson enough for the guidance and counsel that enabled him to reach today's graduation ceremony.

Lewis said he expects his palms to sweat the second he hears his name at graduation, but he paused when asked about the most challenging task:

Getting a bachelor's degree or nudging yourself in among guys six or eight inches taller, and 50 or 60 pounds heavier, and coming down with a rebound.

"Maybe both are the same," Lewis said. "You have to put a lot of effort into it. That's one thing you have to do, put effort into the books and put effort on the court when you rebound."