Cowboys ride ‘em

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, March 4, 2003 | 10:24 a.m.

LARAMIE, Wyo. -- UNLV point guard Marcus Banks was getting dressed in the middle of the Rebels' dreary locker room at the Arena-Auditorium early this morning when he tried to fire up a couple of his teammates nearby.

"Hey, Dalron, we've got one more chance," Banks said. "J-Lew, we've got one more chance."

After Monday night's tough 69-66 loss to Wyoming, the Rebels (18-9, 7-6) have one last hope to gain an NCAA tournament berth: winning next week's Mountain West Conference tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The chance of obtaining an NCAA tournament at-large bid any other way was more than likely sucked into the chilly thin air here with Monday night's loss to the Cowboys (20-7, 8-4), who kept their own March Madness hopes alive with their second consecutive sweep of the Rebels.

"We just have to maintain our focus," said senior forward Dalron Johnson, who finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds. "We can't get down. Our season is far from over with."

"I don't want anybody to give us anything," said Banks, who finished with a game-high 23 points. "If we get anything, I want to deserve it. I want to take it.

"I looked forward to trying to win the (Mountain West) tournament anyway. We played in the championship game last year and didn't get it done. Now we just have to get it done."

UNLV has nobody to blame but itself for this predicament.

Playing in arguably its biggest game of the season, the Rebels didn't even look NIT caliber during the first 20 minutes, shooting a dreadful 28.1 percent from the floor (9 of 32) and scoring just one field goal during a 10-minute stretch. Still, they trailed by just five points, 28-23, before erratic Wyoming point guard Jay Straight nailed a huge 3-pointer from the top of the key to end the half and give the Cowboys a comfortable eight-point cushion.

"That was a huge basket," Johnson said. "Instead of going in up by five, they're up by eight. You can't let a guy get a clean shot like that to end the half."

The basket became even more maginified when UNLV came out to start to the second half with a 5-0 run that would have tied the game. Instead, the Rebels continued to find themselves fighting an exhausting uphill battle before finally catching the Cowboys, 50-50, with 7:56 left on a basket by center J.K. Edwards.

UNLV then went into another scoring drought, getting outscored, 12-4, over the next five minutes. Te Cowboys, aided by three Rebels turnovers and several missed open shots, quickly regained an eight-point lead, 62-54, with 3:49 to go.

But the Rebels made one last run down the stretch, closing to within 65-64 on two free throws by Banks with 31.2 seconds left.

UNLV hit Wyoming with a 2-2-1 fullcourt press and almost forced a turnover when Cowboys guard David Adams appeared to travel while trying to signal for a timeout. But the officials gave the Cowboys the timeout and UNLV was forced to foul Adams, an 81 percent free-throw shooter, on the ensuing inbounds play.

Adams sank both free throws to put Wyoming back up by three, 67-64, with 18.4 seconds left. UNLV again closed to within one, 67-66, on a tip-in by Johnson of an Edwards miss with 11.1 to go. But the Rebels once again were forced to foul quickly and Donta Richardson sank two more free throws with 8.3 seconds left.

Banks, the architect of a handful of dramatic finishes, lost control of the ball while trying to dribble up the court quickly for a possible game-tying 3-point attempt.

There would be no miracle comebacks on this night.

"It got away from us at the beginning," Banks said. "Then we battled back. And then it got away from us again. And then we battled back. We fought back so many times and it's kind of hard to win that way."

"We played our hearts out tonight," added Johnson.