As Usual, Nevada Las Vegas Is Too Much for Anteaters : Basketball: UC Irvine hangs close to Runnin’ Rebels early on, but succumbs in end, 80-64.

The Runnin’ Rebels might have been slowed to a crawl recently, losing six of their last seven games, including Thursday’s humiliation at home against lowly Cal State Fullerton, but they traditionally find a home game against UC Irvine will cure all woes.

Saturday night was no exception.

The Anteaters, who had lost seven in a row in the Thomas & Mack Center by an average margin of 28 points, made a game of it for a while, but finally succumbed, 80-64, in front of 4,489.

Irvine (6-16 and 3-11 in the Big West) led, 48-44, with 13:04 remaining, but the Rebels, who held a three-hour, players-only team meeting Friday after practice, summoned just enough emotion to even their season record at 11-11 and 7-7 in conference.

UNLV, which has not had a losing season since their first year of basketball competition (1958), has been feeling the heat lately and it has nothing to do with the weather in the desert.

UNLV Coach Rollie Massimino, who is as popular in the Thomas & Mack Center as LaToya would be if she had showed up across town at the MGM Grand for the Jackson Family special Saturday night, got a rousing round of boos when he was introduced.

“I think with all the distractions we’ve had lately, the guys showed some real character tonight,” Massimino said. “We got a little shaky there when they went ahead, but we regained our composure and came back strong and that’s a very good sign.

“Before the game, I told them that hanging in there during tough times is part of being an athlete.”

The Anteaters know all about tough times. Coach Rod Baker, who was unhappy with his team’s effort during Thursday night’s loss at New Mexico State, said he thought the Anteaters played harder this time around.

In the end, however, it was just another loss.

“We just didn’t make the plays when we had to down the stretch,” he said.

The best thing that happened to the Irvine contingent in the early going was when Athletic Director Dan Guerrero happened to be seated in the row that was randomly selected to win a free pizza. The Anteaters did not score a field goal in the first 7 1/2 minutes, missing their first 10 shots, and the Rebels jumped to a 15-2 lead.

Reggie Manuel’s third three-pointer of the game gave UNLV a 29-12 lead with 6:33 remaining, but Irvine outscored the Rebels, 21-9, and trailed by only five (38-33) at halftime.

Manuel, who scored 39 against Irvine in the first game between the teams, made five of six first-half three-pointers and had 17 points at the intermission. Baker had Todd Whitehead follow Manuel all over the court and the Rebel guard did not score in the second half.

With their outside game shut down, the Rebels went inside to center Kebu Stewart, who scored 23 points and grabbed 24 rebounds.

“He’s just relentless on the backboard,” Baker said. “You’ve got to put a body on him every time down and he’s as good at rebounding his own missed shots as anybody I’ve seen.”

The Anteaters’ starting five--who totaled only 18 points at New Mexico State--were a combined six of 22 in the first half and finished with 42 points Saturday night. Whitehead led Irvine with 15 points.