Rebels slip past lackluster foe

Friday, Jan. 3, 2003 | 9:36 a.m.

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What: Santa Clara at UNLV

When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Thomas & Mack

TV: None

Radio: KBAD 920-AM

Even official Steve Welmer broke out a wide grin after UNLV forward Dalron Johnson heaved a 23-foot, two-handed, alley-oop lob from the left wing to Marcus Banks, slicing to the basket from the right side.

The ball dropped through the net without any aid from Banks.

"We work on it all the time," Johnson said. "Try to get it to the rim. Get it to the rim. And I actually got it in the rim."

It gave UNLV a 55-31 lead over Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne with 14 minutes, 19 seconds remaining before an announced crowd of 10,411 at the Thomas & Mack Center, but the laughter ended quickly.

Coach Charlie Spoonhour called off a 2-2-1 zone press, Johnson and Banks were given spots on the bench to rest, and the Rebels slipped into a state of tranquillity that disturbed their coach and their regulars.

UNLV pulled itself out of the tailspin, securing a 74-62 victory over IPFW. Afterward, a host of gloomy faces said plenty in the Rebels' locker room.

"We play in spurts," Johnson said, "we really do."

Banks scored 20 points, most from a stellar 12-for-13 evening at the free throw line, and had a career-best eight steals. The fact that he had to play 34 minutes against the 2-13 Mastodons, though, disgusted him.

"My standards are very high for this team, and even higher for myself," Banks said. "I'm looking forward to playing after this (expletive). The only way I'll do that is to go out there, give it my all and terminate whoever is in front of me.

"I don't know. I got lackadaisical. I was just playing defense, at one point, trying to get everyone involved. I guess when I fall out, play a little softer, the team plays a little softer. So I take the blame for that. I promise, come Saturday I'll give my all."

Saturday, UNLV (9-2) plays host to Santa Clara (9-3), which has beaten Princeton and Nevada-Reno, but lost to Washington, this season.

"It gets harder," said Spoonhour.

It did in the second half Thursday for the Rebels. After Johnson's improbable alley-oop attempt to Banks that went in, more than seven minutes elapsed before UNLV collected another field goal.

Jermaine Lewis got that, on a four-foot flip-in. He hit a 12-foot jumper a minute later, and then dropped in a layup a minute after that. Those were the only UNLV field goals in the final 14 1/2 minutes.

"I didn't realize that," Lewis said. "You know, (Spoonhour) told us that they had played other teams tough in the second half, and they did it to us tonight. I'm very disappointed, because it was a game where we could have let everyone play. We just didn't do it.

"We didn't concentrate."

When the Mastodons trailed by 24, they snapped to attention. They scored the next 10 points, capping the run with two free throws by center David Simon, a 6-foot-9, 250-pound sophomore.

Then Simon got hacked again and sank two free throws. Then he dropped in a strong, two-handed layin. He was hacked again and hit a free throw. Then another. UNLV center J.K. Edwards couldn't hang with Simon, so Spoonhour switched to Omari Pearson.

Ultimately, the Rebels staved off a dreadful meltdown by converting 10 of 12 free-throw attempts in the final 10 minutes.

"We tried to get it below 10 points," Simon said of his team' deficit. "We tried to go for the jugular, then too many things went wrong."

Simon led everyone with 23 points and 11 rebounds, production that was pivotal in Ric Wyand's absence. The sophomore forward tweaked his left knee during practice at San Diego State four days ago, and he won't play again until the injury is evaluated in Fort Wayne on Monday.

Wyand's scoring average of 11.2 points is third on the Mastodons.

"We missed him, because he has that jumper and he helps out on the boards, too," Simon said.

Simon transferred to IPFW from Loyola of Chicago, where he played volleyball. Moreover, he tore a knee ligament in March and couldn't even play basketball until practice began in October.

Mastodons coach Doug Noll had been dissatisfied with Simon's effort in his last two games, and Noll implored his prodigy to play with more aggression. Simon responded with the best game of his young career.

Simon's two free throws crept IPFW to within 10, at 61-51, when a media timeout was called with 7:49 left. Then Lewis answered with rare baskets on consecutive possessions to settle the Rebels.

"There are teams in the country who play bad and lose, so it's a good thing we're playing bad and winning," Banks said. "When it all comes together, there's going to be some trouble."