Ailin’ Rebels Get Better Against UC Irvine : Basketball: UNLV’s 101-79 rout is team’s 10th consecutive victory over the Anteaters.

The mighty may have fallen--flat on their faces if you ask the former Nevada Las Vegas faithful who have taken to booing their once-beloved basketball team at home--but there’s nothing like a game against UC Irvine to raise the Rebels’ spirits.

Las Vegas, a team that scored the fewest points in school history nine days ago during a 59-39 loss to Virginia, made it 10 in a row over the Anteaters Tuesday night, putting the Runnin’ back in Rebels with a 101-79 Big West victory in front of 3,115 in the Bren Center.

“I think that was our best effort this year,” Las Vegas Coach Rollie Massimino said.

It was certainly Reggie Manuel’s best effort. Manuel, who had scored a career high by halftime, finished with 39 points, hitting on 15 of 21 from the field, including six of 11 three-pointers.

“Reggie played extremely well, on both ends of the court,” Massimino said. “He shot well, of course, but he also did a very good job on (Irvine guard Chris) Brown.”

Brown, with a late, garbage-time three-point barrage, led Irvine (4-6, 1-1 in conference) with 19 points. But the Rebels (6-4, 2-0) dominated in nearly every phase of the game. They shot 49% from the field, 56% from three-point range and 71% from the free-throw line. Irvine hit 40% of its shots from the floor, 41% of its three-pointers and 62% of its free throws.

“I have a difficult time believing that we would get 35 points less than that team,” Irvine Coach Rod Baker said. “Of course, I saw it, but we committed a lot of turnovers we didn’t need to make.”

The Rebels led by 21 points at halftime and were leaving the Anteaters in their wake.

Point guard Lloyd Mumford, who missed Saturday’s loss to Cal State Northridge because of an ankle injury, went down hard on a layup attempt early in the first half and was taken to UCI Medical Center with a laceration of the left eyelid. Then forward Jermaine Avie ended up face down on the bench seats under the southern basket and left the game with a sprained left ankle.

“They’re concerned that there’s some bleeding in Lloyd’s eye so they’re keeping him there for observation,” Baker said after talking to team physician Dr. Carlos Prieto. “When things are going good, Lloyd’s in the picture, but when things are going bad, that’s when we really need him.”

Anteater fans had a few moments of fun early in the first half, when the teams took turns looking unbeatable and then horribly inept. Irvine missed its first nine shots as the Rebels ran out to a 11-3 lead, but the Anteaters found the range and got some fortunate bounces in a 22-4 run that put them ahead, 25-15, with 10:56 left in the half.

The Irvine student section was mocking Las Vegas’ troubles with the NCAA by chanting, “pro-bation, pro-bation” at the Rebel bench, but it was the last hurrah. And a fleeting one at that. Manuel, who had 28 points by halftime, swished home a pair of three-pointers within 35 seconds and Irvine’s lead was down to six.

It was just the beginning of the end. The Anteaters went 8 1/2 minutes without a field goal and were outscored, 36-5, in the final 10:44 of the half.

Early in the second half, as the Rebels continued to pull away, it became more than Baker could bear and with 14:49 left in the game, he erupted when LaDay Smith was called for throwing an elbow. Baker got a technical--and his money’s worth during a minute-long arm-waving, screaming tantrum--but Manuel made both free throws and the Rebels were coasting, 63-40.

“I thought we started the game playing pretty good,” Baker said. “We didn’t make the shots early, but we were getting the shots we wanted. Then we sort of got control of the game, but their pride or whatever seemed to take over and they really tightened it up and we just didn’t respond very well.”