Sweet revenge

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2003 | 10:06 a.m.

LOS ANGELES --- Nobody had bigger shoes to fill on this year's UNLV basketball team than the smallest player on the roster, junior Jerel Blassingame.

A 5-foot-10, 170-pound transfer from California state junior college champion Los Angeles City College, Blassingame inherited the point guard spot occupied by popular Marcus Banks, a NBA Lottery pick now with the Boston Celtics. And with the game on the line against USC at the Sports Arena here on Wednesday night, the quiet but confident Blassingame did a pretty fair Banks impression.

It was Blassingame's 15-foot fallaway jumper with two defenders in his face and just 3.1 seconds remaining on the clock that forced overtime and gave the surprising Rebels (4-1) a chance to go on and pull out a 92-83 victory against the Trojans (1-2) before a crowd of 2,683 fans.

Blassingame scored six of his 16 points in the overtime period and his former LACC teammate Romel Beck added seven more as UNLV knocked off its second highly-touted Pac-10 squad in five days. The Rebels had edged California, 59-57, on Saturday.

"He hit a big one, no doubt about it," senior guard Demetrius Hunter, who scored a game-high 21 points and was 5-of-9 on 3-pointers, said of Blassingame's clutch overtime-forcing jumper. "Marcus, Jerel, whoever it was. That's a big shot for us and Jerel really came through. That was a momentum changer in the game. When he hit that shot, it seemed like the air left the building."

It certainly knocked the air out of Henry Bibby's very athletic but undisciplined Trojans squad, who were picked to finish fifth in the Pac-10 preseason poll and actually garnered one first-place vote.

Star guard Desmon Farmer, who didn't reach double-figures until midway through overtime and finished with just 12 points on woeful 5-of-19 shooting, started the extra period with an air ball that seemed to set the tone for USC, which blew a seven-point lead in the final 1:07 of regulation.

Beck then responded by making a nice drive to the basket to give UNLV a 77-75 lead it would never relinguish. After Derrick Craven missed a rushed 3-pointer -- the Trojans were a pitiful 1-of-23 from 3-point range -- Blassingame nailed an 18-footer to make it 79-75. USC never got any closer than two points after that as the Runnin' Rebels gradually pulled away.

It wouldn't have been possible if not for Blassingame's key shot which came after Trojans guard Errick Craven turned the ball over while trying to dribble out the clock with 18.7 seconds left.

UNLV then called time out to set up a play that could either win it or tie it.

"We ran a play we called 'stack,' " UNLV coach Charlie Spoonhour said. "We told (Blassingame) to make something out of it."

If the Trojans collapsed on Blassingame, he was to try and dish it out to either Beck or Hunter on the perimeter for a possible game-winning 3-point attempt. If they didn't, he was to either take it to the basket or pull up for a short jumper to try to send the contest into overtime.

Blassingame did the latter which came as no surprise to Beck, his close friend and teammate on LACC teams that won 66 games over two years and advanced to the California state JC title game twice, winning it in 2003.

"I've seen him do that for two years now," Beck said. "He's known for doing that. I've probably seem him do that eight or nine times before tonight. He's just a clutch player. Unbelievable."

"I just went out there and tried to make a play," Blassingame said matter-of-factly. "Coach told me to try and penetrate and get my own shot or look for somebody who was open. But the shot was there, so I took it."

And took it over two Trojans defenders who were leaping right at him trying to block it.

"Yeah, I know," Blassingame said with a rare smile. "I'm just happy that I made that shot."

"A heckuva play," Spoonhour said. "He turned the corner well and shot it with a lot of poise."

UNLV, despite play without starting center J.K. Edwards, who must still sit out one more game for his part in the school's Phonegate probe, is putting together a pretty nice resume of non-conference wins just in case they need it when Selection Sunday rolls around in March.

"I don't think there's any question that these games, at the end of the year, we're going to be very proud of," Spoonhour said. "SC is going to get better and better as is Cal. ... This is a really nice win for us."

The Rebels missed their first four free throws of the game but hit 8 out of 9 in overtime and finished 15 of 25 (60 percent) for the game. ... Beck, who had hit just 3 of 16 treys (18.8%) coming into the contest, made 4 of 5 3's in the first half alone as UNLV connected on 13 of 26 3-pointers (50%) for the game. ... Former Georgia and UCLA head coach Jim Harrick, now a scout with the Denver Nuggets, attended the game. ...

UNLV took a bus back right after the game and hoped to return to campus by 2:30 this morning so that players wouldn't miss any classes. However, a triple-fatality on the northbound I-15 Freeway outside of Barstow was expected to close that road until 2 a.m. making a long trip home even longer. ... The Rebels return to Los Angeles on Saturday night to face undefeated Loyola Marymount (5-0) at Albert Gersten Pavilion.

UNLV 92, USC 83 (OT)

3-Point Goals: 13-26 (Hunter 5-9, Beck 4-6, Blassingame 2-6, Umeh 1-1, Blankson 1-3, Winston 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 3.

Blocked shots: 3 (Peters 2).

Turnovers: 20 (Blassingame 9).

Steals: 6 (Blassingame 2).

3-Point Goals: 1-23 (O'Neil 1-2, Farmer 0-7, D. Craven 0-5, E. Craven 0-4, L. Stewart 0-4, R. Stewart 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 7.

Blocked shots: 1 (Curtis).

Turnovers: 14 (E. Craven 6).

Steals: 9 (O'Neil 2, E. Craven 2, L. Stewart 2).

Officials - Bill Kennedy, Tim Gabutero, Michael Irving.