UNLV Rebels @ New Mexico Lobos Basketball Recap

UNLV 77, New Mexico 74 (OT)

The road was rocky, bumpy and thoroughly unsettling. However, the boys from Vegas have finally reached their desired destination, a place called Bracketville on the third weekend of March.

The Nevada-Las Vegas Rebels defeated the New Mexico Lobos in Mountain West Conference competition from The Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Wednesday night. The win all but assures that the Rebels, who wobbled at various stops along the way in their 2011 campaign, will be participants in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The Rebels improved to 9-5 in conference play and moved ahead of fourth-place Colorado State in the league standings, thereby cementing their position as a tournament team. New Mexico fell to 5-8 in Mountain West play and has now lost four straight games.

UNLV fans were glad to see Tre’Von Willis, a former all-league performer, raise his game back to a previously high level that hasn’t been a regular feature of this season as a whole. Willis, who has struggled this year, scored 25 points and hit 5 of 6 3-pointers to lead the Rebels to a hard-fought road victory. UNLV’s Oscar Bellfield scored a layup with 16 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime when a New Mexico shot tantalizingly tripped lightly off the rim with two seconds remaining. The Rebels, who had conceded a 15-point second-half lead of 51-36, got the best of the Lobos in the extra frame. Bellfield finished with 15 points and Quintrell Thomas stepped forward with a monster outing of 19 points and 13 rebounds for head coach Lon Kruger’s club.

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The Lobos were able to take advantage of an overly aggressive UNLV defense and get to the free-throw line in their second-half surge, which turned 30 minutes of horrible basketball into a 10-minute sprint. Midway through the second half, UNM looked completely out of it, but in the home stretch, Los Lobos were able to make up the entirety of the 51-36 deficit they faced. Unfortunately for head coach Steve Alford’s squad, they were unable to capitalize as they finished just 23-of-37 from the free-throw line, leaving way too many points at the charity stripe in a contentious conference game. Dariese Gary led the Lobos with 28 points but missed a key free throw which would have put New Mexico up by three in the final minute of regulation. Bellfield answered the call for the Rebels with his tying layup, and when the Lobos failed on their subsequent possession, UNLV gained the reprieve of an overtime period. The relieved Rebels, happier to be playing bonus basketball than New Mexico, got the jump on the Lobos and didn’t look back.

As a result, UNLV can make its reservations for the field of 68. The time of uncertainty in Sin City is now over. The Rebels will put on their Dancing shoes once again.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer