BIG WEST TOURNAMENT : UNLV Stuffs Titans’ Hopes in 99-83 Romp

If there had been a last-second shot, Cal State Fullerton might have had a chance. If it had gone to overtime, Fullerton would have been a pretty enticing bet.

But even the Titans--those masters of suspense--could not create a shade of doubt about this one.

Nevada Las Vegas, playing against a team that had upset the Rebels with a three-pointer at the overtime buzzer last month, sent a ball-hassling defense, some ferocious offensive rebounders and Stacey Augmon at the Titans in a Big West Conference tournament semifinal Friday, and that was more than enough.

UNLV won handily, 99-83, in front of 8,153 Long Beach Arena in a game it once led by 23 points. The victory moved the Rebels into the tournament final today against New Mexico State.

Fullerton, which beat UNLV once this season and lost the other game only on a three-point bank shot at the buzzer, had won five overtime games against conference opponents this season, but the road ended here.

Stacey Augmon--U.S. Olympian and Big West Conference player of the year--had stood by while Fullerton’s Cedric Ceballos sullied his reputation as a defensive player in the first half, blazing by him for 19 points.

But in the second half, Augmon, the soft-spoken Rebel, made himself heard.

With UNLV leading only 51-45 early in the second half, Augmon picked up a loose ball and went into the air. Stymied on that move, he did a 360 and softly banked in a short shot.

Fullerton came back with two points, and Augmon came back with an alley-oop dunk.

But 10 minutes later, Fullerton was still hanging in there, trailing by 10. Augmon turned a three-point play with a serpentine drive to the basket, and a free throw on the foul. On the other end, Ceballos missed a shot, and Augmon came back with a three-pointer. He followed that with a steal and slam.

After allowing teammate Anderson Hunt to hit two free throws, Augmon made a steal and dunked, capping a 12-0 run that put UNLV up, 81-59.

He would add a 16-foot jumper and a three-pointer that made it 88-65 with 6:38 left. He finished with 29 points, tying his career high. Hunt, who hit four three-pointers, and scored 13 in the first half, finished with 21 points.

“You got to hear today from Stacey,” UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian said. “This guy has pride that’s unbelievable. In the first half, Ceballos was having a great game. I think Stacey wanted to show everybody in the ring who the man is.”

That would be with actions, not words.

To say Augmon doesn’t like to talk about himself is an understatement.

“I don’t like to talk at all,” he said.

Ceballos, after his 19-point first half, finished with 31 points and 16 rebounds. He was so good that when he stepped out of bounds near the UNLV bench to inbound the ball, Tarkanian spoke to him, and Ceballos broke into a grin that lasted to the other end of the court.

“He said, ‘Stop shooting, you’re killing us,’ ” Ceballos said.

After the game, Tarkanian asked Ceballos how many he scored.

“Good,” Tarkanian said after hearing it was 31. “We held you.”

Augmon held him, in the second half.

“Augmon started playing more aggressively in the second half,” said Ceballos, who on one first-half play took to the baseline, blowing past Augmon on the first step, slipping around Moses Scurry in the next few and finishing with a dunk that put Fullerton as close as two, 25-23.

“I guess he got a little talking to from Tarkanian at the half,” Ceballos said.

In the second half, the Titans had trouble with more than just Augmon. After contesting UNLV’s powerful inside players, the Titans had plenty of trouble with themselves.

Center John Sykes had picked up his fourth foul in the first half. With 15 minutes still to play, the situation was desperate. Every other starter--Derek Jones, Wayne Williams, Ceballos and Hill--had three fouls.

“The front line had to concede some inside baskets,” Coach John Sneed said. Sykes and Jones eventually would foul out, Jones finishing with 10 points and eight rebounds in his final game.

Sneed guided a team picked to finish ninth in the Big West to a 16-13 record and a tie for fourth, not to mention the upset of UNLV.

“After the season we had, you always hate for it to end on a losing note,” Sneed said. “But I told the team, only two schools, the NCAA winner and the NIT winner, get to end with a win. There will be 288 other schools losing their last games.”

One more team will lose in the Big West tournament. So far, this one has belonged to UNLV, as have most of the others. UNLV is 17-2 in seven years in the Big West tournament, losing only in 1984 and 1988.

Fullerton’s tournament, and season, have ended in the same way for the past four years--with a loss to UNLV.

“I’d rather it had ended in the (NCAA) tournament,” Ceballos said. “We tried hard, and went down fighting.”