Rebels bask in the glow after 18th victory, face rematch with Lobos

Steve Addy

Monday, March 4, 2002 | 9:14 a.m.

Third-place teams rarely tie up their regular seasons in neat little packages. There's usually a lot left hanging, a lot of goals that have to wait for next season.

But the Rebels finished up all of their business at hand Saturday with a 91-82 win over New Mexico in the regular-season finale at the Thomas & Mack Center.

When walk-ons Noel Bloom and Jon Knoche are both on the court at the end, it means your checklist is complete. By then, the Rebels had taped the edges and tied a bow on an 18-9 regular season that topped most reasonable expectations for coach Charlie Spoonhour's debut in the desert.

"This team is finishing up pretty well," he said. "I wish we were about 25 percent better at some things, but I can live with that. These guys come out and give you everything they've got. As angry as I get, they usually get the result you're supposed to get."

Regardless of what happens in this week's Mountain West tournament, in which the third-seeded Rebels host the Lobos again Thursday night, Saturday's win completed a determined step forward by UNLV. The final horn seemed to signify that any bruises lingering from last year -- the NCAA sanctions, the coaching-go-round, the futile chase for Rick Pitino -- had long since healed.

The Rebels have three days to re-practice for New Mexico (the Cliff's Notes game plan: don't let Ruben Douglas score 32 again), so they briefly reveled in their glory Saturday. Here's what they accomplished:

Bloom's third basket of the year accounted for the final points. In the context of the game, they were meaningless. But in a larger sense, they signified the end of one satisfying Rebels season and the start of a new, uncertain one Thursday night, against the same opponent in the same arena.