Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2005 | 9:22 a.m.
Yes, the UNLV basketball team still has a pulse.
That much was proven Monday night when the Rebels, minus injured starting guard Romel Beck, battled 15th-ranked Utah (20-3, 8-0) on pretty much even terms in an intense, physical battle at the Thomas & Mack Center.
But in the end, UNLV (9-11, 2-6) left with its fourth consecutive loss, a 57-53 setback to the Mountain West Conference leaders. And that was the bottom line, according to Rebels coach Lon Kruger.
"It's disappointing to lose," Kruger said. "We're not into moral victories at all, but I was proud of our effort."
Especially, for a change, when the going got tough.
Utah, which cruised through the first half of conference play with an average margin of victory of 17.5 points, appeared ready to blow the game open when forward Bryant Markson (19 points) swished a 3-pointer to extend the Utes' lead to 11 points, 45-34, with 12:23 remaining.
But UNLV played stifling team defense down the stretch and held Utah, the nation's leader in field goal percentage at 53.5 percent, to just one Andrew Bogut basket over the final nine minutes while closing to within one point, 52-51, on a three-point play by guard Michael Umeh with 2:15 to go.
Utah upped its lead to 53-51 with 1:20 left when forward Justin Hawkins sank one of two free throws. The Rebels then had a chance to tie it, but forward Odartey Blankson (18 points, 6 rebounds) missed a tough 18-foot fallaway jumper with 48 seconds left.
After Utah guard Marc Jackson connected on one of two free throws to extend the Utes' lead to 54-51 with 28.1 seconds left, the Rebels missed an excellent chance to tie it when Umeh couldn't connect on a wide-open 3-pointer from the right of the key with 14 seconds to go.
Hawkins then sealed the win with a pair of free throws a couple of seconds later.
"Down (11) in the second half I thought the guys, as much as all year, really came together and battled and fought," Kruger said. "It's as good a basketball as we've played in a long time."
Kruger inserted junior Ricky Morgan into the starting lineup in place of struggling senior Jerel Blassingame, who had seven turnovers in Saturday afternoon's 82-72 overtime loss to BYU. Morgan didn't score a point in 27 minutes of action but had five assists and just one turnover and played a strong game defensively.
"I thought Ricky really did a good job of running the club and getting us into some things," Kruger said. "(Blassingame) has been battling a sprained thumb."
Blassingame came off the bench to score nine points (3 of 3 from behind the arc) in 13 minutes, but had no assists and two turnovers. In two games against the Utes this season, he has managed just one assist and five turnovers to go along with 17 points in 35 minutes of action.
Junior center Louis Amundson (12 points, 9 rebounds) also had a big game for the Rebels, especially on the defensive end of the floor, where with the aid of frequent double-teams he helped hold Bogut to just 14 points, a season-low four rebounds and six turnovers in 40 minutes. Bogut, who came into the contest leading the nation in rebounding with an average of 12 per game, took 24 minutes to get his first.
"That's just how it is, man," said Bogut, considered a candidate to be the top pick in next summer's NBA draft, while signing autographs afterward. "I was keeping my man off the boards and letting other guys get it. Amundson is a helluva rebounder. I really concentrated on keeping him off the boards, and he got a couple of elbows on me, too.
"A 'W' is a 'W' though."
Blankson agreed with the big Aussie from a different perspective.
"I still believe a loss is a loss," he said. "We can play hard and together like that every night. It shouldn't just be when we play a top team. It takes focus throughout the whole season. We haven't done that in the past but hopefully we can build off of tonight's performance."
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