Friday, March 8, 2002 | 9:56 a.m.
If there was any justice, any at all, the Rebels could have hung out until all hours this morning, reliving every pulsating moment of their most glorious victory of the season Thursday night.
For sure, it would have been a great party as the video unspooled, showing each Rebel's heroics in their heartstopping 120-117 double-overtime win over New Mexico in the first round of the Mountain West tournament.
Each guy could've had his turn with the clicker, rewinding and replaying his favorite moment. The high-fives would have circled the room like a baseball crowd doing the wave.
Lou Kelly would've stopped on his back-to-back dunks that gave UNLV a six-point lead in the second OT, part of his career-high 35 points, the most ever in an MWC tournament. Marcus Banks would've cringed over his missed free throws late in regulation and the first OT, but fast-forwarded to his 2-of-2 free throw trip with 40 seconds left, capping his 26-point night.
Instead, the Rebels had to treat the victory like a trinket bought at auction. They get to put it on a shelf for future admiration, but there's no time to enjoy it now. They have to return to the Thomas & Mack Center at 9 tonight to play Utah in the semifinals, a fact that put a quick damper on any postgame revelry, even if a crowd of 12,886 wanted to sit there and soak it in.
After playing fast-paced 50 minutes spread over nearly three hours, the third-seeded Rebels had less than 24 hours to enjoy their 19th victory of the season, their fifth straight and 11th in their last 13 games. Five minutes of locker room celebration were followed by their coach's admonition.
"Get showered and get to bed," Charlie Spoonhour said just after midnight as a few players lingered before the minicams. "Get some sleep."
They should've slept soundly, too -- out of fatigue and satisfaction. A furious pace led to the NBA-like score and a greatly entertaining game, but the Rebels finally took control by mustering some defensive stops in the second OT.
Their win wasn't assured until New Mexico forward Cody Payne's 3-point heave at the buzzer sailed over the backboard. The Lobos had forced the second OT on guard Senque Carey's up-and-under scoop layup at the first OT buzzer, so until Payne's miss, there was an odd feeling in the arena that New Mexico might find a way to tie it yet again.
After the marathon, the Rebels could only shake their heads that their run of good luck -- and overtime success -- had continued. They are 4-1 in OT, including three wins since Feb. 18.
"This was indescribable," said Jevon Banks, who began the second OT with a 3-pointer that put UNLV ahead for good. "You grow up and see games like this on TV. In Las Vegas, we've seen games like this over the years. Now we got to experience it first hand."
Spoonhour said, "I've been doing this for 40 years. I've had games like this, but probably not with this many points, not with the teams scoring this efficiently."
New Mexico, which lost here in last week's regular-season finale, probably deserved a better fate than elimination. After a year of internal discord and criticism directed at coach Fran Franschilla, the Lobos (16-13) gave a good account of themselves, forcing overtime at 96-96 and a second OT at 105-105.
Ruben Douglas led them with 32 points, giving him 93 in three meetings against the Rebels this season, but he had only three points in the overtimes and three baskets over the final 18 minutes. Fellow guard Eric Chatfield scored 25 before fouling out late in the second half and center Patrick Dennehy had the best game of his career with 24 points and 13 rebounds.
"This was a hell of a college basketball game," Fraschilla said. "It was a heavyweight fight that lasted longer than 15 rounds. It went 22 or 23 rounds. Credit UNLV for making a couple more plays at the end."
That was the difference, really, because it was close all the way. UNLV never led by more than seven and New Mexico's biggest lead was four.
"I don't know if anybody ever kept the momentum," Spoonhour said. "One team would grasp it for a while, then the other team would. I didn't feel we had anything particularly strong going for us. We would just fight to get ahead and try to hang on, and that's what we did."
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