Thursday, Feb. 10, 2005 | 10:26 a.m.
For UNLV senior forward Odartey Blankson, the second half of Wednesday night's 74-71 victory against Missouri in many ways mirrored the up-and-down season for the Rebels.
Blankson at first looked like he was going to be the hero for UNLV, scoring 15 of his team-high 18 points after intermission as the Rebels (10-11) used a 24-8 run to overcome a 37-32 halftime deficit.
Then it appeared that Blankson might end up being the goat when he was whistled for a technical foul for hanging on the rim while trying to dunk home a rebound with the Rebels clinging to a 67-63 lead and just 1 minute, 40 seconds left in regulation.
Missouri guard Thomas Gardner hit both technical foul shots to cut the lead to two, 67-65.
On the ensuing possession, Tigers forward Linus Kleiza, who finished with a game-high 24 points, nailed a 15-foot jumper over Dustin Villepigue to tie it, 67-67.
But just when it looked like the Rebels would snatch defeat from the jaws of victory for the second time in a five-day span, Blankson atoned for his gaffe in a big way.
Blankson, who had made just 10 of 47 3-pointers (21.3 percent) on the season, drained a long trey as the shot clock wound down to give the Rebels the lead for good and UNLV snapped its four-game losing streak before a crowd of 11,581 at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Blankson also came up with a key rebound of a Kleiza free throw miss with 3.8 seconds left during a mad scramble to the left side of the basket that resulted in time expiring.
"I was just trying to get on the ball like a fumble," Blankson said. "Get on it and don't let the other team team get to it. And they didn't get it. ... It was a sigh of relief when the buzzer went off."
"The way things have been going, I thought they were going to kick it out and someone would hit a three," added Rebels center Louis Amundson. "I was just happy when the streamers came down and the horn went off."
Blankson didn't shy away from talking about his mistake afterward.
"I was just trying to be too aggressive to the rim," he said. "I didn't do it on purpose, but I didn't want to come down at that time either. But it was a technical."
A technical that resulted in what amounted to a six-point swing had Blankson been able to put the rebound in. Instead, it bounced off the back of the rim and he got nailed for the technical.
So there was more than a little pressure on Blankson to come through after the Tigers took advantage of the gift to tie a game they seemed to have all but lost.
"When I shot it I was thinking nothing but that it had to go in," Blankson said of his 3-pointer. "It felt like a layup when it left my hand."
"I'm so happy for the guys," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. "I think it was a very good effort."
The UNLV bench, led by swingman Curtis Terry (10 points, five rebounds, two steals, three assists), point guard Jerel Blassingame (nine points, seven assists) and center Joel Anthony (four points, five rebounds, four blocks), outscored Missouri's bench, 28-11.
UNLV also unveiled a 2-3 zone defense at the start of the second half that limited Missouri to three field goals in the first 11:45. The Rebels outscored the Tigers 24-8 to start the second half.
"Coach talked a little about it going in," Terry said. "As a team they weren't good 3-point shooters, but they have Gardner, who is a good 3-point shooter. At halftime we changed into it to try and shake things up a little bit."
Missouri shot 39 percent from the floor for the game and 33 percent (11 of 33) in the second half.
"It did work well," Kruger said. "Gardner got a little hot on us late, but the zone was very good for us. It's the first time we've played a 2-3 zone all year. I thought the guys were pretty active. I thought Curtis and Ricky (Morgan) and JB (Blassingame) did a real nice job on the top."
The Rebels return to Mountain West Conference play on Saturday afternoon at San Diego State.
archive
