Defense ignites rally for UNLV

Steve Addy

Thursday, Feb. 14, 2002 | 9:43 a.m.

Like a teenager dragging trash cans to the curb, the Rebels deleted Florida International from their chores list with predictable tedium Wednesday night. It got a little messy, but they finished the job.

What UNLV's 83-77 home victory lacked in artistic merit, it made up by being semi-suspenseful, as the Rebels rallied from 10 points behind in the second half. They got into that fix with uninspired play on both ends and got out of it with 10 minutes of aggressive defense.

Otherwise, the Rebels did not break much of a sweat against the Sun Belt Conference visitors, who gave a good account of themselves by leading by seven at halftime and 46-36 before the Rebels got busy. UNLV's defense fueled spurts of 11-0 and 12-2 that enabled its escape.

The game's only real value was in giving the Rebels their third straight win, a 14-8 record and final nonconference mark of 9-4. That's better than last year's 9-6 and almost as good as their 10-3 mark of 1999-00.

Having won six of their last seven games, the only blot being the overtime loss at New Mexico, the Rebels are charging into the Mountain West stretch drive as one of the league's hottest teams. Beating BYU and Utah put them alone in third place at 5-4 heading into Saturday's game at league-leading Wyoming (7-1).

The Rebels learned nothing Wednesday that will help them Saturday, other than to remind them that defense must be their touchstone. As soon as they started getting after Florida International, the game turned in their favor. Trailing 49-40 with 16 minutes left, UNLV went to a fullcourt press, hassled FIU into four straight turnovers and soon led 51-49.

"I guess we needed to get down to decide it was time to call the dogs out," Vince Booker said. "When we got those turnovers, it woke us up and it woke up the crowd. We could hear them snoring during timeouts."

"We didn't have the juice we've had the last couple of games," Rebels coach Charlie Spoonhour said. "(By pressing), we were trying to change things up, make something happen. We were afraid to press because they have so many guys who can dribble, but it turned the whole game around."

Though FIU went back ahead 60-55, the Rebels clamped down again and went ahead to stay after a Lou Kelly 3-pointer, Lou Amundson's layup and free throw and Jevon Banks' steal and breakaway layup. UNLV's lead reached 83-70 in the final minute.

The Rebels won without point guard Marcus Banks, who sprained his right ankle in Monday's win over Utah and didn't suit up. Had the opponent been anybody other than FIU, he would have played, he said.

"Coach didn't want me to tweak it again," Banks said. "I'll be ready for Wyoming."

Jevon Banks got the start despite his own sore ankle and compiled 16 points, five assists, five rebounds, four steals and 37 minutes -- all career highs. He also settled down defensively after giving up 16 first-half points to FIU point guard Carlos Morban, who finished with a team-high 22.

The Rebels put five scorers in double figures for the fourth time this season. Dalron Johnson had 22, Kelly 13, Chris Richardson 12 and Amundson 11.