Peters turns in near-perfect night

Friday, March 14, 2003 | 10:29 a.m.

Toward the end of the first half Thursday night, the Rebels were rolling, the crowd was threatening to match the decibel level of nearby McCarran International Airport and James Peters sailed in for a slam ...

... and missed.

"Aww, I was anxious to get that dunk. Too anxious," said Peters. "It just came off the rim. Oh yeah, I knew it would have gotten the UNLV fans on their feet. I made a mistake, but I tried to make up for it by playing defense, hustling and helping the team out.

"So it was cool."

Peters, a 6-foot-8 junior forward from Chicago, didn't make many mistakes in UNLV's 83-67 victory against San Diego State before 10,921 at the Thomas & Mack Center in the Mountain West Conference tournament.

Called "Jay-Mo" by his teammates and coach Charlie Spoonhour's staff, Peters scored a career-best 19 points on 9-for-14 shooting. Most were from close range. He also tied a career mark with three assists, and had five rebounds and a steal.

The Rebels ran, getting 12 fastbreak points to two for the Aztecs. But guards Marcus Banks and Jermaine Lewis also penetrated and deferred, which led to 44 interior points for UNLV. SDSU had 26.

That attention to the inside led to the benchmark game for Peters.

"I had fun tonight," Peters said. "I mean, that's what we go out there for -- to have fun. I enjoyed myself. That's how it should be every game -- go out there, enjoy yourself and have fun, and we'll win games."

The Rebels (20-9) enjoyed themselves against the Aztecs (15-13) this season, defeating them for the second time in six days and for the fifth game in six meetings over the past two seasons.

This season, UNLV went 3-0 against SDSU, and all three victories took place with Peters in Spoonhour's starting lineup.

When guard Demetrius Hunter's ankle problems forced him to the bench, Spoonhour first turned to Ernest Turner. Hunter tried coming back, but it was a short-lived experience.

Spoonhour tapped Peters to start Feb. 3, a move that allowed 6-10 senior Dalron Johnson to exploit others at small forward, and UNLV responded with a 90-57 victory against Colorado State.

The Rebels are 8-3 since Peters became a first-teamer, and one of those losses was in overtime at Utah. Tonight at 9, UNLV plays Utah (24-6) in a tournament semifinal.

"It will be a tough one. Utah's a pretty good team," Peters said. "But it's not a big deal. I'm just going to go out and play hard."

Aztecs coach Steve Fisher said UNLV has played better than any of its Mountain West brethren since Peters has started, and Rebels junior center J.K. Edwards has enjoyed having another heavy lifter working beside him.

"It was a real big difference," Edwards said. "It really helps out a lot, having that extra big defender back there."

Spoonhour noted the enthusiasm that Peters has brought to UNLV in his role as a starter in general and in Thursday's game in particular.

Early in the second half, Peters scored five unanswered points to help boost the Rebels' advantage to 48-33. He converted a fastbreak layin and another layup, on a nifty dump pass from Jermaine Lewis, to pump the lead to 64-46.

"He got into the starting lineup, more or less, by necessity," Spoonhour said. "He gave us the thing we needed, I thought, from the first. He's played with a lot of energy, and he tries. That's the main thing.

"He's out of position at times, having to do things that he's never done before in a game setting, at least in a collegiate game. I think he's done very well."