Augmon Accomplishes Task: Rendering Weapon Harmless

Forward Stacey Augmon of Nevada Las Vegas is always assigned to check the toughest opposing player. When UNLV faced Georgia Tech in an NCAA tournament semifinal game Saturday, he was assigned to Dennis Scott, the top gun in Georgia Tech’s Lethal Weapon 3 offense.

“It was a big challenge,” Augmon said. “I knew he was looking forward to playing against me and he took the challenge and came out launching. I couldn’t stop him in the first half.”

Scott scored 20 points in the first 20 minutes as Georgia Tech took a 53-46 lead.

But Augmon limited Scott to nine points in the second half as the Rebels won, 90-81, to advance to the NCAA championship game Monday night against Duke.

“Stacey played great defense in the second half,” guard Anderson Hunt said. “He knew what he had to do.”

What Augmon had to do was play more aggressively against Scott.

After making five of eight shots in the first half, including four three-point shots, Scott didn’t touch the ball in the first five minutes of the second half because of Augmon. “He played great defense on me the second half,” Scott said. “He denied me the ball. I think the whole Vegas team was denying us the ball and it got us out of our offense.”

Although Augmon did a good job on Scott in the second half, he thought he could have done a better job in the first half.

“Scott’s a great player,” Augmon said. “You can’t take anything from him. He still got 29. The thing I tried to do was hold him to the lowest possible points. I can’t go out and stop anyone. Great players are going to hit shots on anyone.”

But Tarkanian thought Augmon was being too modest.

“In all fairness to Stacey, Scott got quite a few of his points when we were in our zone,” Tarkanian said. “It seemed like every time we went to a zone he hit a three-pointer and made us pay for it. I don’t know how many he got directly off Stacey, but I’m sure half of them came off our zone.”

As the Rebels’ best defensive player, Augmon said he takes more pride in his defense than his offense. And he has shut down some of the nation’s best offensive players, such as Temple guard Mark Macon, who had 11 points before fouling out in a loss to UNLV.

Although Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Cremins praised the aggressive defense Augmon played on Scott, he felt Scott stopped himself in the second half.

“I knew Stacey couldn’t stop Dennis Scott overall,” Cremins said. “He’s a heck of a defender, but no one can stop Dennis Scott. The only one who can stop Dennis Scott is Dennis Scott. But Augmon is a good athlete.”

After opening the game in a zone defense, UNLV switched to a man-to-man defense at the start of the second half. The defense seemed to confuse Georgia Tech, which shot 66.7% in the first half. The Yellow Jackets shot just 34.5% in the second half.

“I thought the second half we played really well defensively,” Tarkanian said. “We got after it real good and we shut down a lot of things. The first half we didn’t play with the intensity we wanted.”

The Rebels opened the second half with a 17-4 run as Augmon scored five points. While Augmon is recognized for his defense, he also is a good offensive player as he proved last Sunday by scoring 33 points against Loyola Marymount and Saturday with 22 against Georgia Tech.

“I take more pride in my defense than my offense,” Augmon said. “A lot of people say I should take more pride in my offense because it will take me farther in life.

“But my role on this team is as the defensive stopper and to put a little points on the board and that’s what I did. I enjoy playing defense.”

While UNLV’s defense might have been the key, the Rebels’ perimeter offense came to the fore after Georgia Tech made a run late in the game.

Georgia Tech’s sagging defense took away UNLV’s inside game as forward Larry Johnson got into foul trouble. But the Rebels picked up their outside game, making 10 of 15 three-point shots.

Hunt, who had 20 points, broke out of a slump by making five of nine three-point shots and Greg Anthony made three of four and scored 14 points.

Company: Penalty