Finishing touch

Thursday, Nov. 18, 2004 | 10:03 a.m.

After a sluggish 62-56 exhibition victory against the EA Sports All-Stars on Tuesday at the Thomas & Mack Center, UNLV senior shooter Romel Beck said he wasn't concerned with the state of the Rebels.

Junior center Joel Anthony said he was "a little bit" concerned.

And versatile senior forward Odartey Blankson paused for a few exasperated seconds before admitting his concern.

"I think we should be further along in every aspect," he said. "We struggled a bit."

The reviews varied about UNLV's struggle with EA until the final few minutes, but Lon Kruger, who makes his official debut as the Rebels' coach Tuesday at home against St. Mary's, was pleased with his team's defensive effort.

EA, which dropped its seventh game in 10 days to fall to 0-9 in its role as a preseason punching bag, shot 41 percent from the field.

Calvin Clemons, who played at Charlotte, drove for a layup to cut EA's deficit to 58-54 with 2:19 remaining, but the visitors didn't score again until Mark Green sailed in for a dunk before the final buzzer.

Green, a former Arkansas-Little Rock guard, led everyone with 30 points, but he had gone nearly eight minutes without scoring until that last breakaway freebie.

EA coach Maury Hanks, rubbing his temples, asked UNLV trainer Dave Tomchek for aspirin midway through the first half, and toward the end of the game he paced the sideline, saying the game lasted about five minutes too long.

"Guys stuck together and fought through the adversity," said UNLV senior point guard Jerel Blassingame. "Most teams that are new won't pull together and be able to pull it through, and we did."

Blassingame tallied 14 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds, and half of starting forward Louis Amundson's game-high 12 boards came under UNLV's glass.

In the final two minutes, sophomore guard Micheal Umeh gave the Rebels their only separation from EA with a strong layup and a dunk off a stellar Blassingame lob -- an Umeh-oop -- on back-to-back possessions.

Anthony, for a second consecutive exhibition game, started and hit both of his shots from the field and both of his free throws, yanked down four boards and blocked four shots in 24 minutes.

Beck, still hobbled by a sore left Achilles' tendon, neither started nor finished, and he said he would not be bothered if he doesn't start when he returns to full strength.

He said he's at about "80 percent" now.

"It's bothering me. I'm not able to make moves that I normally make," Beck said. "I'm still able to go out there and get positive minutes, and play through it. It's my senior year, so I don't want to hold anything back."

Kruger has started a lineup consisting of 6-foot-9 Louis Amundson, 6-9 Anthony and 6-7 Blankson. In addition, Kruger said Umeh and Beck are interchangeable at shooting guard, so Beck might still spell Umeh once he's healthy.

Then again, Beck made a team-best five field goals Wednesday, when every one mattered. That value might displace Amundson or Anthony from the starting five. Kruger said he's keeping all of his options open.

"Whether it's starting or coming off the bench, I just know I have to come out here and do what I've been working on in practice," Anthony said. "You just have to come out and make sure you do it to the best of your ability ... when you get on the court, you still have to produce."

Beck likes Anthony's game, the strides the Montreal native has made since practice started in blocking shots, finish around the basket and ignite fastbreaks.

"I'm not complaining," Beck said. "I can't get mad at that. And we talked a lot today on defense, that's one thing that will be big for us. We have the weapons, and we can run with the best of them.

"If our defense is (tough), we'll be a pretty hell of a good team."