Rebels: No choke, this time

Monday, Dec. 22, 2003 | 9:52 a.m.

Within the UNLV basketball team, opinions differed about a 14-point lead that was shaved to six by Auburn within one of the final minutes of Saturday's late-night game.

Against California, a similar malady unfolded before the Rebels woke up to secure what should be a key victory by March.

Thursday, against Northern Arizona, UNLV fully melted down, losing a double-figure lead and then the game in a defeat that will look bad come March.

Junior swingman Romel Beck said he didn't panic when the Rebels' 72-58 advantage was cut to 72-66 by Auburn with 2:57 remaining at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"This time, we learned from our mistakes," Beck said. "Everyone focused, and we came through."

Senior guard Demetrius Hunter did pause, though, at when Saturday's game became tight.

"You were thinking, 'Uh oh,' " Hunter said. "But at the same time, you're thinking, 'We've been though this before. We have to learn.' Tonight, we held on and did a good job."

UNLV (6-3) turned it on at the end to win, 82-69, giving Auburn its first loss of the season in its eighth game.

Rebels power forward Odartey Blankson, whose NCAA tournament experience at Marquette makes him the lone UNLV basketball player to have participated in the marquee event, also had something to say about Saturday.

"I thought about that for one second, and I'm sure you were thinking, 'Uh oh,' " Blankson said. "But, you know, we had to keep our composure and just keep playing hard.

"You can't think about what happened in a previous game. You just play, get your nerves out and keep looking forward."

Two factors favored UNLV.

First, Auburn is a blue-collar squad that has made its mark in the rugged Southeastern Conference, if not the nation, on the boards. Luckily for the Rebels, Charles Barkley, the most famous Tiger, was in the Mack stands and not on the court.

Second, the Auburn-UNLV game was the second of the Las Vegas Showdown, after Alabama's squeaker against Oregon in a first game that tipped off at 7 p.m.

So, by the time crunch time arrived deep into the second half, the body clocks of the Tigers were ticking on 2:30 a.m.

"I feel like (UNLV coach) Charlie (Spoonhour) felt Thursday night," said Auburn coach Cliff Ellis, a longtime friend of the Rebels' boss. "We looked like we were skating around. But I don't want to make excuses, I really don't.

"They took it to us on the boards."

To the extent that Ellis asked Spoonhour to commend his players on their rebounding efforts. The Rebels beat the Tigers in the battle of the boards, 41-27.

"They beat us on the boards, and that's our strength," Ellis said. "I just have the opinion, whenever you play, whether it's 3 o'clock in the morning or whatever the circumstance, you have to come out and get it done, and we didn't do it.

"I'm disappointed, because where we got beat ... it's supposed to be our strength."

According to Hunter, a defeat Saturday would have been more distasteful than Thursday's because the Rebels don't hit the court again until they play host to Bradley on Sunday night.

It's that extra effort that showed in many areas of Hunter's game Saturday, when another loss could have sent his team into a funk.

"I wanted it," he said. "We had dropped two in a row, and if we had lost (Saturday) we would have had another loss plus eight days to dwell on it. So it's good to win, feel good about yourself for a few days and then play again."

When their game started to unravel against Auburn, the Rebels buckled down, sinking all eight of their free throws over the final 2 1/2 minutes. Four of those were sunk by Blankson.

In addition, UNLV's lone field goal in that span was a nifty banker from the right side by center J.K. Edwards, in his third game since rejoining the team after serving a six-game suspension in the campus-wide calling-card scam.

At the end, Auburn looked like a team whose inner clock hit 2:40 a.m., then 2:41 at the final buzzer.

Which was of no concern to the Rebels, who are trying to discover how to play together with only three games as a whole team. Plus, Michael Umeh has been ailing, so the time off figures to help him the most.

Hence, John Winston, whom Spoonhour has already tried out at small forward this season, played an abundance at point guard -- and against an Auburn press -- Saturday night.

The odd man out Saturday was junior Andy Hannan, a swingman whom Spoonhour is trying to fit in. Hannan shouldn't worry because Spoonhour said he isn't close to determining a solid, dependable rotation yet.

"Believe it or not, we're still a team that hasn't played together for that long," Hunter said. "We got a lot of new guys. Only me, J.K., Louis (Amundson) and James (Peters) have played together (for an extensive time). That's it.

"We still have time for gelling. It might take a little time, but, sooner or later, we'll hit our point where we're playing good basketball all the time. You can see glimpses of us being good right now. As we learn to play more, with each other, we'll be even better."

Blankson is proving to be one of Spoonhour's more, if not most, dependable options. He led UNLV with 16 points and 13 rebounds on Saturday, the sixth time he has led the team in both statistics in a game.

With the NCAAs already on his resume, he's also a voice of veteran reason. For UNLV fans who are sweating buckets, from game to game, on the Rebels' wild roller-coaster, he suggested just hanging on and bearing with this team.

"The season's still young," Blankson said. "We're trying to turn it around and play more consistent, and not be so up and down. That starts with players. The coaches give us the game plan, and we just have to follow it and be on top of our games."