BIG WEST TOURNAMENT : Las Vegas Beats Irvine in Tuneup

Coach Jerry Tarkanian says Nevada Las Vegas “is probably the skinniest team in America,” but his 18th-ranked Runnin’ Rebels certainly aren’t thin on talent.

Tarkanian proved that Thursday night, making liberal use of his bench en route to a 102-82 rout of UC Irvine in the second round of the Big West Conference tournament before a crowd of 7,242 at the Long Beach Arena.

For most of the teams competing here this week, the ultimate goal is the tournament championship and the automatic berth in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament that goes with it.

For the Rebels (24-7), already a shoo-in for an NCAA spot, it’s little more than a warmup for “The Show.” Las Vegas meets Cal State Fullerton at 7 tonight in the semifinals.

Irvine (12-17) played about as well as it can in the first half, sinking four of seven three-point attempts, but the Anteaters couldn’t shoot their way out of this one.

Las Vegas started out a little cool but was cooking by halftime. The Rebels pumped in 29 points in the final six minutes of the first half to take a 55-45 lead at the intermission.

Irvine cut the margin to four twice, but the Rebels quickly regained a 10-point lead, and consecutive steal-and-stuff plays by Stacy Augmon and Greg Anthony put the Rebels on cruise control with a 77-63 lead with less than 9 minutes to play.

It was showtime after that as the Rebels took turns practicing their breakaway dunks.

Augmon scored 27 points, and Anthony had 24 to lead UNLV. Rod Palmer got 23 and Mike Doktorczyk 13 for Irvine.

“There were a couple of spurts that just killed us,” Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan said, “that spurt at the end of the first half and the one early in the second half when we got it down to 67-63.

“We self-destructed a bit, like we’ve done all season. We came back, but then it blew up. That’s going to happen to a lot more teams I think. Vegas is one hell of a good team. They put points on the board like an NBA team.”

And at times, Las Vegas plays better defense then some National Basketball Assn. teams. The Rebels may be slight, but they aren’t retiring. They play the most physical defense in the conference and have been known to take a team out of its offense.

That physical style can be their downfall, though. The Anteaters made 36 of 43 free throws and came away with their biggest victory of the season, a 99-98 upset of Las Vegas Feb. 4 at Irvine, when four Rebel starters fouled out.

It was Irvine that was forced to foul a lot on this evening as the Rebels enjoyed double-digit leads much of the second half.