Rebels throttle Wyoming, 74-56, will face Utah to open MWC tourney

By Ryan Greene

Published Saturday, March 6, 2010 | 12:31 p.m.

Updated Saturday, March 6, 2010 | 2:52 p.m.

Final, UNLV wins 74-56

As expected, the Rebels dusted Wyoming to close out the regular season on Saturday afternoon at the Mack, 74-56.

Tre'Von Willis led the way with 20 points, Chace Stanback tallied 13 and Oscar Bellfield totaled eight assists.

Elsewhere, Colorado State finished off Utah, 76-67, in Fort Collins. That said, along with securing the 3-seed for next weekend's Mountain West tournament, the Rebels will open up against the Utes, who they've lost to twice this season.

As for the UNLV seniors, Darris Santee had nine points and four boards for the Rebels, while Steve "Chop" Jones hit a baseline jumper in the closing minutes to get himself in the scoring column. He also had three rebounds.

For full postgame coverage, including stories, photos, video, stats and The Rebel Room: Postgame Edition, stay tuned to lasvegassun.com/rebels.

9:31, second half, UNLV leads 60-40

Oscar Bellfield now has seven points, eight assists and four rebounds for the Rebels, who continue to produce in cruise control against Wyoming on Senior Day at the Mack.

His last dish was for Tre'Von Willis's first 3-pointer of the game, and Willis leads all scorers with 18 points.

One positive for Wyoming is that it has gotten over the turnover bug, with just one in the first 10 minutes of the second half after registering 16 of them in the first half.

Still, they're not winning this one. The atmosphere here has died down, as it's a pretty non-descript day overall.

Elsewhere, Colorado State leads Utah, 67-62, with under four minutes to play in Fort Collins. UNLV, again, will face the loser of that match-up in the Mountain West tourney quarterfinals on Thursday night.

Halftime, UNLV leads 44-23

Seemingly without breaking a sweat, UNLV holds a commanding 21-point lead on Wyoming at the break at the Mack.

It appears almost a lock that the Rebels will seal up the No. 3 seed in next week's Mountain West Conference tournament within the hour. Meanwhile, with 14 minutes to go in Fort Collins, Colorado State holds a 43-38 edge on Utah, and the loser would get the Rebels to open up action in the quarterfinals next week.

The Rebels have been sloppy at times, too, but the competition has kind of lent itself to that.

Wyoming has committed 16 turnovers, has shot five air-balls and is just 2-of-9 from long range.

Meanwhile, while the Rebels are just 4-of-14 from 3-point territory, they're 15-of-25 from inside the arc, led by 13 points the hard way from Tre'Von Willis.

Here are some other numbers of note from today's first half ...

— Oscar Bellfield is capping off a solid regular season in typical fashion. He only has two points, but has six assists with no turnovers and also has two steals.

— Djibril Thiam leads Wyoming with nine points. All nine points came in the first nine minutes of the game, and it wasn't until the 11:00 mark when someone other than him scored.

— Darris Santee, in his final home game, has nine points and four boards. First career double-double, possibly?

— Kendall Wallace is 2-of-4 from deep, making him 14-of-28 now in the team's last four games.

— While Wyoming has four assists and 16 turnovers, UNLV has 12 dishes with six giveaways.

Expect more of the same the rest of the way, folks. This Wyoming team looks brutally uninterested.

10:05, first half, UNLV leads 20-11

Darris Santee missed a layup inside to open the game on his Senior Day, but after that, the 6-foot-8 Houston native got the Rebels rolling.

They haven't slowed since, leading Wyoming 20-11 mid-way through the first half at the Mack. Santee has five points and three rebounds in five minutes so far.

UNLV has forced eight Wyoming turnovers to this point, and off of those eight giveaways has scored seven points. Tre'Von Willis leads the Rebels with six points so far on three mid-range jumpers.

Wyoming is showing just why it's been on such a slide late this season. No one other than Djibril Thiam scored for the Pokes in the first nine minutes, and the Cowboys have already chucked up four air-balls. Life has to be frustrating right now for UW coach Heath Schroyer ... but at least he's well-dressed.

Meanwhile, further East, Colorado State holds a 35-27 lead on Utah in Fort Collins at halftime. That means it's starting to look more and more like the Rebels are destined to face Utah on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the MWC tourney.

Pregame

Welcome to Senior Day, welcome to the White Out and welcome to the Rebels' final game before entering postseason play.

Like the last three UNLV has won following an unsightly 3-game skid, this one doesn't promise to be much of a battle.

The Rebels (22-7 overall, 10-5 Mountain West) dispatched of Wyoming (10-19, 3-12) with ease a month ago in Laramie, 78-50. It was the Cowboys' worst home loss in more than 50 years.

Right after that, one of the team's top healthy players — sophomore guard A.J. Davis — up and left the program, and the Cowboys have reeled ever since.

If UNLV does what it's supposed to, the Rebels will clinch the third seed in next week's Mountain West Conference tourney here at the Mack, and in turn they'll open up on Thursday in the quarterfinals against the loser of today's Utah/Colorado State game in Fort Collins.

I'll keep you posted on that one throughout the afternoon.

Anyways, on to today's three keys to UNLV victory

1) Start strong. Plain and simple. UNLV's done it in each of its last three games against teams that aren't capable of playing well from behind. Wyoming fits the bill, no matter how much Desmar Jackson starts chucking.

2) It's not really a key to UNLV victory, but it'd be nice to see Matt Shaw have a seamless transition back into the rotation after missing the Rebels' last four games with a sprained left ankle. In the first meeting with Wyoming, he had a season-high 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting.

3) The Rebels need Kendall Wallace to stay hot going forwards into the postseason tournaments. He's scored 38 points over UNLV's last three games and in that stretch is a combined 12-of-24 from deep. He has one specific role on this team, and UNLV needs him to keep doing it effectively.

As for today's prediction and 'Pick to Click', I'm thinking Anthony Marshall has a big game as the Rebels roll into the postseason with a 77-55 win.

Talk to you after tip-off.