UNLV Throws Caution to Wind, 115-93

Before Nevada Las Vegas played Cal State Fullerton March 3, Jerry Tarkanian warned his team: Be wary.

It turned out there wasn’t much need for caution. UNLV led by 21 at halftime.

So what was Tarkanian to tell his team Friday? Watch your step? What words of his would they possibly take seriously?

Either he somehow made his point again, or there was simply no need for it.

UNLV started the game by running off 12 points before Fullerton made a basket, and went on to a 115-93 victory in a quarterfinal game of the Big West Conference tournament in front of 9,025 at Long Beach Arena.

Until the March 3 game, when the Rebels won, 103-85, no Titan opponent had scored 100 points since 1980.

UNLV scored 42 points in the first 11 minutes of the second half, including nine in a row by Larry Johnson. Johnson finished with 32 points, two shy of his career high, even though he left the game with more than six minutes to play.

“I thought in the first part of the game we did a great job defensively, and at the start of the second half,” Tarkanian said. “As the game progressed, we let up. You can’t do that and be a great team.”

UNLV’s second half total was 66 points.

The Rebels, ranked third in the country but seeded second to New Mexico State in the tournament, advance to a semifinal game against Pacific tonight at 9.

Fullerton finished its season 13-16, losing eight of their final nine games, the only victory coming over UC Irvine.

The Rebels, who beat the Titans by 28 points in Las Vegas in January, took control early. Fullerton’s Cedric Ceballos missed a driving shot. On the other end, David Butler was fouled and made two free throws. Fullerton turned the ball over, and Butler, fouled again, made one of two free throws.

The Rebels got a fast-break dunk from Johnson, the 6-foot-7 forward who was chosen conference player of the year.

They got another free throw from Stacey Augmon, last year’s conference player of the year.

Johnson stole a pass near the top of the key and broke away for a layup. Augmon made a jumper from the foul line, and then Anderson Hunt made a steal off Wayne Williams and turned it into a dunk.

Not five minutes gone, and it was 12-0. Williams made a baseline jumper for the Titans’ first points with 4:22 gone.

Williams finished with 20 points, Ceballos with 25.

Fullerton got no closer than seven points in the first half, and trailed by 10 at halftime, 49-39.

Johnson, a junior, had scored only 14 and 11 points against the Titans in the team’s first two games this season. He made 14 of 18 shots. Stacey Augmon added 23 points, and Moses Scurry had 17.

Ceballos, Fullerton’s 6-7 senior forward, has thrived on the Rebels’ running game during his two-year career at Fullerton. In five previous games, he averaged 28 points against the Rebels. He finished with 25 Friday, leaving the game with three minutes to play.