Kelly’s Hero

Steve Addy

Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2002 | 9:59 a.m.

WHAT: San Diego State (16-10, 5-6 MWC) at UNLV (15-9, 6-5)

WHEN: Saturday, 7:35 p.m.

WHERE: Thomas & Mack Center

TV: Las Vegas ONE (Ch. 1 and 39)

RADIO: KBAD 920-AM

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- The Rebels were fresh out of timeouts, almost out of time and surely out of luck. Soon they would have to accept a sour fate they probably deserved.

"In our last timeout, we're saying all those stupid things, 'It's not over yet,' and all that stuff," coach Charlie Spoonhour said. "But you're thinking it's about time to sack the bats."

But the Rebels still had a few things going for them Monday night when they trailed Colorado State by three with three seconds left. They had the inventive Lou Kelly on the court and a freshman in CSU's lineup.

Those advantages merged in a most marvelous way, as Kelly was fouled by Colorado State's Jon Rakiecki on a desperation 3-pointer from near midcourt. Kelly calmly made all three free throws with no time left, then scored nine of his career-high 29 points in overtime to hand UNLV a surprising 96-91 victory.

It was not shocking that CSU found a way to lose, because the Rams (10-15) are last in the Mountain West at 1-9. But they had outplayed the weary Rebels most of the way and had an 82-77 lead after Rakiecki's free throws with 15 seconds left in regulation.

An odd combination of events -- all in UNLV's favor -- allowed the Rebels to get even 83-83, and then they led all the way in OT after scoring the first seven points. It was a small crowd at Moby Arena, only 2,211 fans, but they filed to the parking lot muttering to themselves.

"We were very lucky, very fortunate," Spoonhour admitted. "But a lot of times, (a team) will leave a bone out there for you and guys won't pick it up. We picked it up. I'm proud that we didn't pack it in four or five times when it would've been pretty easy."

"We knew that we were lucky to be in overtime," said Dalron Johnson, who Monday was named Mountain West player of the week for the second time this season. "When we got to overtime, we didn't want to need another comeback, so we defended hard and kept them down."

Truth be told, it wasn't a do-or-die victory for the Rebels, even though the league lead changed hands Monday from Wyoming (8-2) to Utah (9-2). At 6-5 in the MWC (15-9 overall), UNLV is simply trying to finish third for seeding purposes in the conference tournament March 7-9 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

But the Rebels can use the win to spring into their favorable closing schedule -- home games against San Diego State, Air Force and New Mexico.

"Now, if we don't mess it up, we've got three in a row at home," Spoonhour said. "Every game will be hard. And the way we play, if it wouldn't be hard, we'd make it that way."

After Saturday's draining 82-78 loss at Wyoming, Spoonhour went six players deep on his bench, hoping to find fresh legs. Lamar Bigby and Ernest Turner helped in that area, but the step-slow Rebels failed to exploit several opportunities to gain control. Down by five with 15 seconds left, they had missed two layups, a dunk and four free throws in the previous two minutes.

But they didn't quit. Banks hit a 3-pointer to get them within 82-80 with six seconds left, and UNLV got an unexpected break when Rams guard Andy Birley hit only 1 of 2 free throws with three seconds left. He entered as the league leader in free throw percentage at 91.7 (22 of 24).

Trailing 83-80 with no timeouts, Kelly grabbed the inbounds pass and bolted over midcourt with the freshman Rakiecki charging him. Rakiecki, trying to commit a two-shot foul before Kelly got off a clean shot, fouled him squarely on the arm as he flung a 40-footer as time expired.

"I thought he was going to keep going because he had time to shoot," Rakiecki said. "I made a mistake."

Kelly said: "I saw (Rakiecki) coming at me. I thought he was going to stop, so I took the shot. He was running full-speed and he never slowed down."

"Before Lou went to the line, we all figured we had lost," said Marcus Banks, who scored 22. "The foul changed everything."

As the other nine players watched helplessly behind midcourt, and UNLV's coaches and subs clung together on the bench, Kelly swished all three free throws with his long lefthanded stroke.

"When I shot the second one, I was thinking of the tip-in I missed at the end of the (Wyoming) game. I didn't want two hard losses to be my fault," Kelly said. "When I got the ball back for the third one, I knew I had it."

In overtime, Kelly got UNLV started with a long fadeaway 3-pointer, Johnson made a layup off a Kelly assist and Turner hit a jumper that clanged high off the rim for a 90-83 lead. Kelly's 6 of 6 free throws in the last 23 seconds kept the Rebels ahead the rest of the way.