Tale of two halves

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Dec. 19, 2003 | 10:31 a.m.

A not-so-funny thing happened to UNLV in its final tuneup game for Saturday night's showdown against undefeated Auburn.

The Rebels lost.

Actually, collapsed might be a better way to sum up Thursday night's 74-73 setback to Northern Arizona at the Thomas & Mack Center.

After connecting on their first nine shots from the floor en route to a 27-11 lead after just seven minutes, the Rebels (5-3) found themselves outplayed and outhustled down the stretch by a Big Sky Conference team that had gone just 1-5 in its six previous games against Division I teams.

Senior forward Aaron Bond put in a 2-footer with 1.6 seconds remaining to win it for the Lumberjacks (4-5), who trailed by as many as 17 points (51-34) in the second half before putting together an impressive 40-22 run to end the game. It was Northern Arizona's only lead of the night.

The Rebels (5-3) once again struggled badly on the boards, getting outrebounded, 36-29, and also at the free throw line, making just 9 of their 18 free throws in the second half and shooting just 58.6 percent (17 of 29) for the game.

It was the first time this season that the Lumberjacks, who previously had lost to teams like Cal State Fullerton, UC Riverside and Oral Roberts, had outrebounded a Division I opponent. UNLV's two centers, Louis Amundson and J.K. Edwards, combined for just two rebounds.

"Rebounding, other than (Odartey Blankson), it's terrible," UNLV coach Charlie Spoonhour said.

Despite going into halftime with a seemingly comfortable 45-29 lead, the Rebels felt the game was far from over. And they were right.

"We knew they were probably going to come back and make a run in the second half," point guard Jerel Blassingame said. "They came out and wanted it a little more than us."

"We need to get a killer instinct," added Blankson, who finished with a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds. "There is no excuse to lose with a 17-point lead like that.

"They just outhustled us the entire second half. We didn't play very smart. And the defensive intensity wasn't there in the second half. It's a tough loss. The only thing we can do is learn from it. ... But the bottom line is we have to get a killer instinct or we won't be a very good team."

The Rebels have less than 48 hours to put the devastating defeat behind them before facing Auburn (7-0), a team that lost by one point to eventual NCAA champ Syracuse in the NCAA tournament in March, on ESPN on Saturday night.

"It's a big game," Blankson said. "We have to bounce back and we only have one day to do it."

"We know (Auburn) is going to be good," guard Demetrius Hunter said. "An SEC school, of course they're going to be good. They beat Colorado State pretty good (84-54). They're a good team. period. But we have to put this behind us or we'll be 5-4 before Christmas."

"We're not looking back," Blassingame promised. "We're only taking steps forward. We can't worry about this game anymore. We can't do anything about it now. Our next game is against Auburn and we have to come to play."