Seniors look to go out with ‘W’ against Aztecs

Steve Guiremand

Friday, March 7, 2003 | 10:07 a.m.

NEXT UP

What: SDSU at UNLV

When: Saturday, 3 p.m.

Where: Thomas & Mack

TV: ABC, Ch. 13

Radio: KBAD 920-AM

In 25 years of college coaching, Charlie Spoonhour has taken part in his share of Senior Days.

"Some days your seniors play really well and some days they play very poorly," Spoonhour said. "So you never know what it's going to be. I've seen just about everything."

Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center, Spoonhour will help salute UNLV's five seniors in a ceremony before the Rebels' regular-season finale against San Diego State.

Marcus Banks, Dalron Johnson, Jermaine Lewis, Lamar Bigby and Jon Knoche will be honored. Only Johnson was part of a team that earned a piece of the Mountain West Conference championship his freshman year, but Spoonhour said the group has made impact on UNLV basketball.

"I think the main thing they've done is that they've allowed some stability to be here," Spoonhour said. "And I think in all their cases, they've had some pride in being at UNLV. And we need more people who think that way."

Johnson and Lewis played for three coaches during their careers, starting with Bill Bayno followed briefly by Max Good and ending the past two seasons with Spoonhour. They, along with the junior college trio of Banks, Bigby and Knoche, helped keep the program on its feet following yet another round of NCAA sanctions from the Bayno era.

"They're young men who have worked hard and represented our school well," Spoonhour said. "We're losing some good people. That's not only reflected by the numbers they've put up but also by the perspective the people around our school have for them."

Spoonhour said all five are on track to graduate. Lewis, in fact, already has earned his degree in criminal justice.

"We haven't had any eligibility problems, which says a lot in this day and age," Spoonhour said. "The other day, Dalron didn't have to go to a study hall we had on the road, but he went. I think little stuff like that is worth something."

As for basketball, Bigby and Knoche were reserves who didn't see much floor time. Banks is a Mountain West Conference player of the year candidate who is second in the conference in scoring and leads in steals and assists. Johnson is UNLV's all-time shot blocker who will leave as the second-leading scorer in MWC history behind only New Mexico's Ruben Douglas. Lewis, who battled back from a knee injury that forced him to sit out the 2001-02 season, has been the team's best man-to-man defender this season.

Here's what Spoonhour had to say about each of his seniors: