UNLV Hits When It Counts to Edge Titans

Cal State Fullerton was in the Thomas & Mack Center Monday night, and the house was in trouble.

It was a night on which 10th-ranked Nevada Las Vegas had its poorest shooting game of the season--its poorest game, period. So poor that a Fullerton team not even at the peak of its own game was right there at the end, close as a whisker to its first victory in the arena.

But with time running out and the score tied, 63-63, Greg Anthony drove up court and launched a 3-point shot from beyond the top of the key, banking it in to give UNLV a 66-63 Big West victory over Fullerton in front of a crowd of 18,405.

With 15 seconds left, Anthony committed the turnover that allowed Fullerton to tie the score.

UNLV, which had led by as many as 14, found itself with a 63-60 lead and the ball underneath Fullerton’s basket with 15 seconds left.

With Fullerton pressuring the inbounds pass, David Butler called a timeout. On the next attempt to inbound the ball, Butler lobbed a pass toward the lane for Anthony who leaped, and, falling forward, knocked it out of bounds.

That gave Fullerton the ball, and Cedric Ceballos knocked down a 3-pointer to tie it with 11 seconds left.

Then came Anthony’s drive up court to the top of the key, where he gave UNLV its 13th victory against 2 losses, and its 10th win in a row.

Anthony’s shot came with 3 seconds left, and a stunned Fullerton team, with no timeouts left, could only watch the celebration unfold.

“I would have felt better to lose by more than to tie it and then lose on a fluke,” Fullerton’s Derek Jones said.

Fullerton (5-8, 0-4) lost its seventh in a row, tying its longest losing streak of last season. Fullerton had trailed, 63-58, with 48 seconds left. Mark Hill tried a 3-pointer and missed, but the Titans got the ball back. Wayne Williams tried a 3 and missed, but once more the Titans got the ball back. Ceballos was fouled by Stacey Augmon in a scramble and hit 2 free throws.

For UNLV (7-0 in conference play), it was the second close call in a row. The Rebels didn’t pull away until the final 3 minutes in an 83-77 victory over Fresno State last week.

“I am very disappointed in the effort we gave, I told the team that,” UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian said. “Maybe we are just not very good. . . . I am just very disappointed.”

Fullerton, using a zone defense and a spread offense, led for a time in the first half, going up by no more than 4, despite committing 20 turnovers and making only 6 of 22 shots in the half.

“I think our pressure defense really rattled them in the first half, but they kept their poise and kept playing,” Tarkanian said. “They didn’t fold like some teams would have, and I think they deserve all the compliments.”

UNLV, meanwhile, did not. The Rebels shot 34% from the field, a season low, and scored their lowest point total of the season. The previous low was 75 in a loss to Arizona.

Fullerton’s last lead was 20-17.

UNLV’s Anderson Hunt hit a 3-pointer, then came up with a steal off a double team of point guard Wayne Williams. Hunt, fouled as he attempted a layup, hit 2 free throws for a 2-point lead.

Clint Rossum pulled up for a jumper from the foul line for a 4-point lead. And so it went. UNLV ran off 15 unanswered points, taking a 32-20 lead.

Williams, fouled on a drive at the halftime buzzer, hit 2 free throws to trim the lead to 32-22.

UNLV’s 32 points in the first half was its lowest total in a half this season.

The previous low of 35 was achieved twice--once in each of the Rebels’ 2 losses.

UNLV scored just 35 in the first half against Oklahoma, and in the second half against Arizona

UNLV built on that lead to go up by 14 with 10 minutes to play.

But the Titans closed again. Ceballos, who finished with 31, hit a 3-pointer that cut it to 6. Augmon then made 1 of 2 free throws.

Ceballos was fouled on a drive, and knocked down both free throws. But then Butler came back with a half-hook that made the lead 7 again.

Fullerton cut it to 5 once more. Then, trailing by 7, Ceballos was called for traveling. Augmon hit a 3-point shot, putting UNLV up, 61-51, with 4 minutes left.

Once again, Fullerton trimmed it. This time, Hill hit a jumper from the foul line that made it 61-56, Ceballos dunked off an assist from Williams that made it 61-58. Then came the drama of the final minute.

“I want to compliment Fullerton,” Tarkanian said. “I think they outplayed us, they outhustled us, outrebounded us. I think they came and played hard.”

Fullerton Coach John Sneed, who was sporting a new Pat Riley hair style, had to agree.

“There is so much fight in the guys. I still think I am getting as much as I can get out of them,” he said. “Many players could surrender and give up at this time of year, and to come into a place like the Thomas & Mack and get the effort out of the players we got tonight--I am extremely proud of them. . . . We made the play we needed coming down the stretch, and put ourselves into the opportunity to go to overtime and have a chance to win it.