Rebels bound to grab big win

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Dec. 13, 2004 | 9:09 a.m.

AUBURN, Ala. -- It's not every day you see UNLV bully a team from the mighty Southeastern Conference in basketball. But that's just what happened Sunday afternoon at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

The Rebels (3-3) overcame pitiful free-throw and 3-point shooting, as well as an 11-point second-half deficit, by dominating the boards en route to a 91-87 overtime upset of Auburn (6-3).

UNLV finished with a huge 63-35 edge in rebounding over the smaller but very athletic Tigers, who didn't start a player taller than 6-foot-6 and survived most of the day thanks to some solid 3-point shooting. The Rebels finished with a 54-34 edge in points in the paint and a 35-10 advantage in second-chance points.

And no one took better advantage of the size difference inside than 6-foot-9 junior forward Louis Amundson.

Amundson, who had a career average of just 3.4 rebounds per game entering this season, finished with 22 points and 22 rebounds, 10 of them on the offensive end, while registering the third double-double of his career. Senior forward Odartey Blankson added a double-double of his own (22 points, 10 rebounds) while senior point guard Jerel Blassingame overcame a horrific first 32 minutes to chip in with 20 points (nine in overtime) and 6 assists.

But it was the play of Amundson, who tied a Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum record with his 22 rebounds, that was the talk of the locker room afterward.

"He had 22 points and 22 rebounds," Blassingame said with a smile. "Who (does) that in college nowadays?"

UNLV coach Lon Kruger added: "He's big. He's quick. He's explosive. He obviously had a terrific game."

Amundson said: "The balls were just coming to me. I don't know what else to say. Some days the ball just comes to you. It helps that they had a short team and the balls were just coming to me."

It also didn't hurt that UNLV shot a dreadful 17.9 percent (5 of 28) from 3-point range and missed 14 of its 28 free throws, including a woeful 2 of 9 by Amundson, to give the Rebels even more chances to play ping-pong on the backboards.

"I'm real disappointed in that," Amundson said of his foul shooting. "I know that I can hit them.

"We just refused to lose. Our team just came together, toughened up, and found a way to win."

UNLV was trailing by 11 points, 66-55, with 8:59 to go when senior forward Andy Hannan, who came off the bench to provide a big spark on boths end of the floor, nailed a 15-foot jumper.

Blassingame, who missed his first seven 3-point attempts of the game, connected from the top of the key a minute later to cut the lead to six, 66-60. Blassingame took over down the stretch, driving for another basket and nailing an 18-footer to cut the Tigers' lead to three points, 68-65, with 5:28 to go.

The Rebels continued to chip away and finally took a 74-72 lead with 1:34 remaining when Hannan, the hero of an earlier road win at Cal, drained a 3-pointer from the right corner.

UNLV missed a chance to put the game away in regulation when Amundson missed two free throws and Blankson could connect on just one of two foul shots, giving the Rebels a 75-72 lead with 21.5 seconds left.

Reserve guard Brett Howell made the Rebels pay for those missed free throws a few seconds later when he hit a wide-open 3-pointer to tie the contest and force overtime.

The Rebels never trailed in overtime, as Blassingame started the extra period with his second 3-pointer of the night. Blassingame, who was a perfect 6 for 6 at the foul line, made four in the final 21 seconds to seal the victory.

"I was just staying aggressive," Blassingame said. "I always stay aggressive no matter if my shots are falling or not. I'm the leader of the team and people feed off me. If they see I'm down, my teammates are going to be down."

But Blassingame said the Rebels were also feeding off the soft-spoken Amundson, who knew he could take advantage of a Tigers front line that was decimated by graduation losses and offseason transfers.

"Louis told us they had a lot of midgets in there," Blassingame said. "Not to desrespect Auburn or anything. They have a great team but Louis knew we had an advantage in there."

Said Auburn senior forward Quinnel Brown, who at 6-foot-6 was the tallest starter for the Tigers: "It was tough. We battled them but sometimes we were just too small."

Auburn coach Jeff Lebo added: "We just couldn't keep them off the boards. To get outrebounded as badly as we did, you usually lose by 25. ... They were just bigger than us."

UNLV, which went 2-2 on its four-game, two-week rodeo-induced road trip, returns home to host Oklahoma State on Saturday night in the Las Vegas Showdown at the Thomas & Mack Center.