UNLV blunts Lobos in 76-73 stunner

Source: The Santa Fe New MexicanJan.迷你倉將軍澳 16--ALBUQUERQUE -- The yellow brick road to another Mountain West Conference championship just developed a pot hole.Facing a UNLV men's basketball team that appeared to be coming apart at the seams after dropping two of its first three league games at home, The University of New Mexico seemed to have things lined up perfectly heading into Wednesday night's game in The Pit.Somewhere between the Vegas Strip and The Pit ramp, the Runnin' Rebels found the chemistry they have been so sorely lacking. They opened an early 16-point lead in the first half and stayed in front for the game's final 35-plus minutes en route to a surprising 76-73 win before a boisterous, sellout crowd.UNLV improves to 11-6 overall, 2-2 in the MWC. New Mexico fell out of a tie for first place, dropping to 12-4, 3-1.The opener of a critical two-game road swing that wraps up Saturday at 10th-ranked San Diego State, UNLV put a lot of emphasis on turning things around in the noisiest arena in the MWC."It was exactly an us-against-the-world thing," said Rebels forward Khem Birch. "Coming in here, we had all the motivation we needed. It was all against us. There was some talk about us being an AAU team and all that, so we had the motivation."Birch had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, but it was the play of guards Kevin Olekaibe, Bryce Dejean-Jones and Deville Smith that did the majority of the damage against the UNM defense.The backcourt trio combined for 54 points and seven 3-pointers. They also had just three turnovers between them.Lobos head coach Craig Neal said it wasn't the long distance shots that hurt the most. It was the Rebels' ability to beat his team off the dribble and get to the rim.Whatever the reason, Neal said his club has lost that killer instinct every championship team has. He vowed to have his team find it before Saturday's road game at Fresno State."We've lost that edge," he said, "that competitive edge where they think they're good enough where they can just turn a switch on and turn the switch off. They're not good enough to do that. Our team's not good enough to do that. We've never been good enough to do that."The Lobos' heads clearly weren't in the right place early in the first half. After taking a 9-8 lead on a Came倉on Bairstow free throw with 15:45 left, UNLV went on a 20-3 run punctuated by Bairstow picking up his second foul and center Alex Kirk heading to the bench for a breather.For less than a minute the Lobos had a lineup that most fans were probably wondering about as Kendall Williams was joined on the floor by Nick Banyard, Obij Aget, Cleveland Thomas and freshman Cullen Neal. The Rebels took advantage at both ends of the floor by making shots, getting defensive stops and silencing the sellout crowd.Along the way UNM had a poor pass by Banyard that led to a fast-break dunk by Dejean-Jones and a pair of 3-pointers by Olekaibe.In between came a mental lapse in which the entire UNM offense ran down court after a made bucket by Rebels guard Jelan Kendrick, leaving Lobo Hugh Greenwood standing alone along his own baseline with no one to inbound the ball to. Only the crowd's reaction got the players' attention.Bairstow came back in at the 10-minute mark with UNM losing 28-12. The 6-foot-9 junior responded with a bucket in the low post and then a defensive rebound.The Lobos eventually got within two points late in the first half and trailed 46-42 at the break.Answering every Lobos run with a bucket of their own, the Rebels never did relinquish the lead in the second half. More than half a dozen times UNM got within two points, even having the ball with the chance to tie or take the lead several times.Kirk missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer in the final three minutes with UNLV holding a 71-69 advantage, then Bairstow had a chance to put UNM in front in the final minute but was off the mark on a 16-foot baseline jumper that preserved the Rebels' 74-73 lead."Yeah, I made a mistake on that one for sure," Bairstow said. "I realized it right away. My original though was to go two-for-one [drive to the basket], but that wasn't the right move."Bairstow finished with a game-high 27 points, having never picked up a third foul. Williams had 15 points while Kirk had 12 and Deshawn Delaney 10. Kirk also pulled down 11 rebounds.Dejean-Jones led UNLV with 23 points. Smith had 17 and Olekaibe 14.Copyright: ___ (c)2014 The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) Visit The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) at .santafenewmexican.com Distributed by MCT Information Services24小時迷你倉