Tark Turns Big West Into Feeding Frenzy

It was just another night in the Shark Tank, the wackiest, tackiest place in the Big West, and how will this date be remembered in Runnin’ Rebel history?

Well, they draped an Olympic medal around the neck of Nevada Las Vegas forward Stacey Augmon, a replica of the bronze original he won in 1988 and then lost in the aftermath of Seoul.

There was that--and then there was a game against some team wearing blue shirts. The final score was 94-66. The Rebels had 69 rebounds and nine three-point field goals. The other guys shot 31% and had 16 turnovers.

It was as routine as the pregame fireworks they light inside the Thomas and Mack Center during player introductions--safe and sane, of course. It was as predictable as Tark’s towel, as embarrassing as what passes for fashion in the stands, a rout by rote.

It also came against the team many had considered the best of the Big Rest, Cal State Fullerton, which had dumped Las Vegas in overtime last season and still had Cedric Ceballos, who has been dogging Augmon longer than the lost medal.

The Big West race was nice while it lasted.

Only 62 more shopping days until the conference tournament.

“I think that’s the team that’s going to win the national championship,” said a flabbergasted John Sneed, Fullerton’s head coach. “They’re playing as well as any team in America right now.

“Supposedly, Santa Barbara, Long Beach and ourselves are among the better teams in the league--and look at what what they did to us here. It gives you a feel for just how good a team they have.”

Cal State Long Beach lost at Las Vegas by 20 points last week, a final score that had caused some jaws to slack. Santa Barbara still awaits on the schedule. But the Titans, 6-3 at game time, have come and gone, leaving nothing behind except maybe a few chalk outlines on the floor.

Fullerton was supposed to have a slim chance Wednesday night because of Ceballos, the senior forward who tends to drive Augmon nuts and Coach Jerry Tarkanian to hyperbole. Augmon, a defensive demon hailed by one preseason publication as the best in the country, looked awfully vulnerable and awfully sedentary during his first three encounters with Ceballos last season. Ceballos averaged 29.3 points in those games, prompting Tark to remark that his Rebels would’ve won the 1989 NCAA title if Ceballos wore UNLV silver and red.

Wednesday night, Ceballos had 16 points in the first half--and the Titans still trailed, 47-30. In the second half, he managed just three points. Hence, the runaway.

But Augmon couldn’t be declared the clear-cut winner in Round IV. He didn’t stick around long enough. With Tarkanian clearing his bench shortly after the second-half tipoff, Augmon logged just 23 minutes of court time.

“It’s nice when you get to play everybody,” Tark said, grinning.

Ceballos had to admit: These Rebels are even better than the ones that reached last spring’s final eight.

“Yeah,” he said, “they’ve added to it. They’ve got (Larry) Johnson to help them inside and (Travis) Bice outside. I think they’re capable of winning the national championship.”

Said Sneed: “I don’t see anyone in the conference beating UNLV in Las Vegas this season.”

What about outside of Las Vegas. The schedule commits Fullerton to one more encounter with the Rebels, next time at Titan Gym.

“They’re pretty good but beatable,” Ceballos maintained. “We’ve just got to do the correct things. We have enough talent. Tonight, we just didn’t do things right.

“We just have to execute. In our gym, we’ll be more relaxed.”

Wishful thinking? Most likely. But the Shark Tank can be intimidating, with or without the cornball shark silhouettes flashed amid the rafters of Thomas and Mack before each game. During halftime, a gang of Rebel rowdies under one basket grabbed Tuffy Titan, Fullerton’s motley elephant-in-drag mascot, and began passing him, overhead, up into the stands.

Is nothing sacred?

Tarkanian, of course, spots a potential weakness in the road ahead.

“We’re on the road for our next four games,” he points out. “And, from here on out, we’re playing every third day. We’ve got a heavy schedule the rest of the season. I can’t tell you how difficult it is to play four games in eight days.

“It’s tough emotionally and mentally on you. And if we’re not emotionally and mentally ready, we can be flat, which is dangerous, because every team is sky high for us.”

That we’ll believe when we see it.

It’s only January, four days into the new year, but with Las Vegas and the Big West, it’s looking again like the same old story.