NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT / WEST REGIONAL : UNLV Finally Gets Defensive, Tips Ohio State : West Regional: Rebels make unusual switch to zone after fast start by the Buckeyes.

On a day when second-ranked Nevada Las Vegas was beatable, the Rebels were not beaten.

Instead, they moved into the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 for the fourth time in five years with a 76-65 West Regional victory over Ohio State before 12,896 at the Huntsman Center Saturday.

The Buckeyes, with a starting lineup of one freshman, three sophomores and a junior, started fast and kept coming, fighting back after a 9-0 UNLV run erased their four-point lead in the first half and again after a 14-1 run put them behind by 13 with eight minutes to play.

But after Ohio State pulled to within 67-62 on Perry Carter’s inside shot with 2:07 left, UNLV finally shut the door.

The Rebels went to a spread offense with about two minutes remaining, and Greg Anthony made a three-point shot to give the Rebels an eight-point lead with 1:23 to play. Anthony finished with 14 points.

“Great teams have a way of winning ball games down the stretch,” Ohio State Coach Randy Ayers said. “That’s what UNLV did today.”

Anthony, playing despite a broken jaw, left the game earlier in the second half after suffering a cut that later required stitches when he dived for the ball.

“We still had a chance until Anthony hit the three,” Ayers said. “Good players step forward, and that’s what Anthony did.”

It was a game in which UNLV needed people to step forward, one that started with Ohio State sophomore guard Mark Baker and freshman forward Jimmy Jackson making UNLV’s man-to-man defense look slow-footed.

“They just blew right by us,” Rebel Coach Jerry Tarkanian said. “We were terrible. I couldn’t get a timeout fast enough.”

Tarkanian then made an unusual move: After the first five minutes, he switched to a zone defense for most of the game, playing less man defense than the Rebels had all year.

“I think Coach Tark made a great move when he switched to the zone,” Ayers said. “It slowed us down quite a bit.”

UNLV (31-5) had to overcome several problems. Anderson Hunt missed all seven of his three-point attempts. Forward Larry Johnson and center David Butler both said they were feeling the effects of colds and the high altitude.

Johnson still finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds, seven of them offensive, in only 28 minutes. Butler had 14 points and seven rebounds in 29 minutes.

“I thought Larry and David did a great job inside for us,” Tarkanian said. “Overall, I thought when the game got tight we kept getting the ball inside, because we couldn’t hit from the outside.”

Carter led the Buckeyes (17-13) with 15 points.

For UNLV, it was a victory that gave the team confidence going into the West Regional at Oakland, where they will play Ball State Friday.

“The biggest thing is (we didn’t play that well and) we still won,” Anthony said. “The only way we feel we can lose is if we don’t play hard.”