Rebels rally past Lobos

Steve Guiremand

Friday, March 12, 2004 | 10:36 a.m.

DENVER -- Survive and advance.

That's a motto used by many college basketball teams when it comes to conference tournament time. And it's a phrase that probably best described UNLV's 55-53 come-from-behind victory against New Mexico here late Thursday night in the first round of the Mountain West Conference tournament at the Pepsi Center.

UNLV's big three of first team all-Mountain West Conference forward Odartey Blankson and third teamers Jerel Blassingame and J.K. Edwards combined for a total of just 13 points and 13 rebounds. But thanks to the hot shooting of guards Romel Beck (23 points) and Demetrius Hunter (three crucial 3-pointers) and the excellent two-way play of senior forward James Peters, who had two huge blocks down the stretch, the Rebels (17-11) managed to survive and advance to tonight's semifinals against Colorado State (13-15), a 60-48 upset winner of No. 1 seed Air Force.

The Rebels won despite scoring just four points in the first 12:04 of the game and trailing by as many as 15 points (22-7) late in the first half.

"It looked pretty bleak there for a while," interim head coach Jay Spoonhour said. "I didn't know if we were going to get double digits. But the guys kept fighting and making big shots."

The Rebels went on a 17-8 run just before intermission to close to within six points, 30-24. But New Mexico, which had lost to UNLV twice in the regular season trying to run-and-gun with the Rebels, used an Air Force-like slowdown style to frustrate the Rebels most of the night and led by as many as nine points, 43-34, with 11:40 remaining.

That's when Beck and Hunter jump-started UNLV's anemic offense with a series of 3-pointers and the Rebels eventually rallied to take their first lead, 48-47, on a pair of free throws by Blankson with 5:29 to go.

New Mexico regained the lead on a thunderous dunk by forward Alfred Neale and two free throws by star forward Danny Granger, who was held in check defensively by Peters most of the night.

Hunter then hit a long trey from the left corner to tie the game, 51-51, with 2:54 to go.

"Demetrius hit some big shots," Spoonhour said. "That's what you rely on your seniors for ... they never quit."

"I originally came into the game to play defense and add some defensive energy," Hunter said. "But I came in and luckily got a clean look on my first shot. I hit it and on the second one I had a rhythm."

Beck and Hunter combined to go 6-of-9 from 3-point range.

Still, New Mexico appeared to be in good shape to pull off the upset when guard Mark Walters sank two free throws with 2:38 left to give the Lobos a 53-51 edge.

The two teams traded turnovers before Beck tied the game again, 53-53, with a reverse dunk following a baseline drive with 1:20 left.

Walters then missed a wide-open 3-pointer. Beck then scored what proved to be the game-winning basket with 21 seconds left when he dunk off an alley-oop pass from Blassingame.

Still, the Lobos had a chance to at least force overtime. But Edwards deflected a post pass for Granger with seven seconds left and Blankson scooped up the loose ball. Blankson was fouled a few seconds later, missed the front end of a one-and-one, but alertly tied up Lobo point guard Javin Tindall on the rebound with 1.7 seconds left. Edwards then batted away the ensuing inbounds pass near midcourt as buzzer sounded.

"We definitely dodged a bullet tonight," Blassingame, who went scoreless but had a game-high eight assists, said. "But all that matters is that we got the win. I played bad. J.K. (6 points, 7 rebounds) didn't play that good and neither did O-dot (Blankson). We had just one guy score in double figures but we still won. We needed to get this one out of the way."

The Rebels don't have much time to reflect on their victory. Next up is a Colorado State squad that upset league champion Air Force on Thursday night. The Rams also squashed UNLV's NCAA tournament hopes a year ago with a dramatic 62-61 win in the MWC title game at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"They've beaten us once, we've beaten them once," Spoonhour said. "(Colorado State center) Matt Nelson has killed us numerous times and beat us pretty good last year in the championship game. There isn't enough time to come up with tricky plays. They're going to be difficult."

"That's why I like tournaments," Beck said. "We get to move on and play another day. Hopefully (tonight) we'll play better than we did tonight."