UNLV Makes Short Work of Fullerton Again

Before Nevada Las Vegas played Cal State Fullerton last Saturday, 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 this time, six days later? Watch your step? What would they possibly take seriously?

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

UNLV started the game Friday night with 12 points before Fullerton hit 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.

No team had scored 100 points against Fullerton since--well, since last Saturday when the Rebels did, in a 103-85 victory. But before that, no opponent had scored 100 since 1980.

If a dozen points to none wasn’t enough, UNLV put on another scoring show in the second half. The Rebels scored 42 points in the first 11 minutes, including nine in a row by Larry Johnson, who finished with 32 points, two shy of his career high. And Johnson left the game with more than six minutes to play.

“We couldn’t stop them tonight,” Cedric Ceballos said. “They’re pretty good.”

UNLV’s second-half total: 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 with a record of 13-16, losing eight of their final nine games, the only victory coming against UC Irvine.

UNLV added this 22-point victory to a collection of blowouts against the Titans this season. The Rebels won by 28 points in Las Vegas in January, and by 18 at Fullerton last Saturday.

This one got out of hand early. Fullerton’s 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, hit one of two free throws.

The Rebels got a fast-break dunk from Larry Johnson, the 6-7 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 hit a jumper from the foul line, and then Anderson Hunt made a steal off Wayne Williams, and turned it into a slam dunk on the other end.

Less than five minutes had gone by, and it was 12-0. Williams hit a baseline jumper for the Titans’ first points with 4:22 gone.

“I thought for the first I-don’t-know-how-long . . . 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.”

Let up?

UNLV went ahead, 26-12. Only Williams kept the Titans that close. He scored 12 of the Titans’ first 17 points and had 14 at halftime, as did Ceballos.

Williams finished with 20, and Ceballos had 25.

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

Johnson, a junior, had scored only 14 and 11 points against the Titans in their first two games this season, but he owned them this time. He made 14 of 18 shots.

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.

“They came out at us at the beginning of the game and took us out of our offense,” Sneed said. “They score so well out of their defense . . . we like to run. We usually run with the ball. Tonight we ran back on defense. They just outman you, overman you.”