It’s in the game

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2002 | 9:54 a.m.

If the second half of Tuesday night's 87-67 exhibition win over EA Sports West is any indication, the UNLV Rebels are ready to play games that finally count.

And no one moreso than senior forward Dalron Johnson.

The 6-foot-9 Johnson put up All-American like numbers, finishing with 34 points and 13 rebounds, including 10 offensive boards, as the Rebels outscored the visitors 51-31 in the second half before an announced crowd of 10,299 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"Dalron had a wonderful offensive game," Rebel coach Charlie Spoonhour said. "Any time you've gone 16 for 19 (in field goal attempts), I think it's fair to say you had a pretty fair night launching them."

"My teammates were doing a good job of getting me open shots today," Johnson said. "And I was knocking them down."

However, Johnson was smart enough to realize the caliber of competition. EA Sports (3-8) had edged Hawaii 73-72 in Honolulu on Sunday, flew back to the mainland on Monday and then apparently enjoyed themselves quite a bit in Las Vegas on Monday night.

Head coach Dudley Rutherford told a reporter he gave up doing bed checks around 4 a.m.

So after battling a sloppy Rebel team to a 36-36 draw in the first half, it wasn't suprising to see EA Sports run out of gas after intermission. The Rebels outrebounded EA Sports 57-20 for the game, including an amazing 32-7 in the second half.

"In these exhibition games, teams don't really focus much on defense," Johnson said. "You want to shoot a good percentage and get your teammates involved. You're going to make shots."

Johnson also led the charge on the boards, grabbing 10 of UNLV's 26 offensive rebounds. The Rebels had more offensive rebounds (26) than EA Sports had total rebounds (20).

"I try and stay focused on crashing the boards," Johnson said. "Over the years, Coach (Spoonhour) has really gotten down on me for not getting 10 rebounds and not getting a double-double. I try and stay focused for 40 minutes and go out and attack every ball."

Point guard Marcus Banks, who celebrated his 22nd birthday Tuesday, had 11 points, six assists and three steals in 29 minutes while backcourt mate Demetrius Hunter was the only other Rebel in double figures with 10 points, including another one of his crowd-pleasing tomahawk jams, four assists and two steals.

Junior center J.K. Edwards, the star of the Rebels' first exhibition win over Global Sports two weeks ago, scored just four points on 2-of-8 shooting. But he grabbed eight rebounds in just 17 minutes and received a loud ovation from the crowd after knocking over several courtside seats while diving for a loose ball.

"His hustle was excellent," Spoonhour said. "He's a big guy but he plays with a lot of enthusiasm. And that's good. I liked it when he went over there and knocked down a row of chairs and we had a whole bunch of people who went over to help him up. That's a good sign when a team does that."

Edwards, who has an body like a defensive end, was recruited heavily for football out of West Forsyth High School in Clemmons, N.C.

"The Carolina schools, the Virginia schools, Tennessee, Florida State ...," the 6-foot-8, 250-pound Edwards said when asked what colleges recruited him in football. "But the coaches stopped calling because I didn't play football my senior year. I had broken my ankle playing in an AAU basketball tournament that summer. So after that, I just played basketball."

UNLV now has four days to get ready for its season opener against Portland State on Sunday night at the T&M.

"Portland State has a good team," Johnson said. "Coach (Spoonhour) has already been talking about them. I think their defensive intensity will be picked up a lot more than tonight's was, so we'll have to come out focused and run our sets to a 'T.'

Sophomore guard Ernest Turner had another solid outing off the bench, scoring eight points (3-of-6 shooting, 1-of-2 3-pointers) in just 13 minutes of action. ... UNLV had a 50-16 edge in points in the paint and a 32-6 advantage on second chance points ... EA Sports was led by 6-foot-9 forward Jack Hartman from Biola College who had 16 points, including 4-of-6 treys. ... EA Sports wasn't helped by the fact that 6-foot-6 guard Maurice Spillers of Utah State had to leave the game in the second minute with a sprained ankle. ... Former NBA star Scott Brooks, a player-coach for EA Sports, went scoreless in 16 minutes of action.