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        UNLV Routs Historically Awful Kent State

        AP
        Posted: 2008-03-20 19:04:18
        Filed Under: Detroit Regional, NCAA Tournament, College Basketball
        It wasn't that UNLV was necessarily good.

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        2. Duke 71, Belmont 70 | West Region
        For a second straight year, the Blue Devils' opener comes down to the final seconds. This time, the opponent misses. Duke hits just six 3-pointers and avoids a last-second buzzer-beater.


        Kent State just made the Runnin' Rebels look that way.

        Joe Darger made four 3-pointers and had 18 points, Wink Adams added 17 and UNLV tied an NCAA tournament record by holding Kent State to just 10 points in the first half of a 71-58 victory in the first round Thursday.

        The Mid-American Conference champions averaged a turnover a minute the better part of the first half, went almost eight minutes without a point and trailed 31-10 at halftime. And that was with UNLV shooting under 40 percent and committing nine turnovers of its own.

        The 10 points in the first half were the fewest since Wake Forest scored that many against Butler in 2001.

        Kent State played evenly with the Rebels in the second half, committing only three of its 20 turnovers, but by then it was too late. After winning 11 of its previous 12 games, its tournament was over in a flash.

        UNLV (27-7) advanced to play top-seeded Kansas in the Midwest Regional on Saturday, hoping to put together another magical ride. Last year the Rebels won their first two games, including an upset of second-seeded Wisconsin, before Oregon stopped them in the regional semifinals.


        This year's team has four new starters and a new look. But if the foundation of last year's team was talent, this year's is built on grit.

        That was never more evident than when Rene Rougeau slid on the floor in successful pursuit of his own missed layup - when the Rebels were up by 20 in the first half.

        The Flashes (28-7) turned over the ball eight times the first eight minutes. Consecutive possessions ended with a 10-second violation, steals by Corey Bailey and Rougeau, and with Mike Scott clumsily hitting the bottom of the backboard on a layup attempt.

        On the other end, there was Adams hitting a 3-pointer and Rougeau and Curtis Terry finishing drives. Usually. The Rebels missed their share of easy ones, too, but the Flashes were so agonizingly bad that it didn't matter.

        Scott led the Flashes with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Haminn Quaintance and Chris Singletary scored 12 apiece, and Al Fisher had 10.

        Fisher, the MAC player of the year, missed eight of his first nine shots, none worse than a botched open layup that Quaintance followed with a miss of his own on the putback try.


        A moment later, there was Terry blocking Fisher's jumper in the lane, then converting Rougeau's long pass for a lay-in.

        When Adams intercepted Quaintance's careless outlet pass, he froze in frustration at midcourt, bending over and clutching the bottom of his shorts as the play went the other way.

        Sympathy seemed to set in late in the half when the crowd - even some of the folks on the UNLV side - let out a loud and perhaps sarcastic cheer when Singletary broke a Kent State scoring drought that lasted 7:38.

        The Flashes closed within 13 late in the second half, but stinging reality hit with under a minute left when Scott struck the side of the backboard with a baseline jumper.

        The Rebels shot 51 percent from the field but committed 19 turnovers, one fewer than the Flashes.

        After shooting 20.8 percent (5-for-24) in the first half, the Flashes finished at 35.6 percent after making 16 of their last 35 shots.

        Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
        2008-03-20 17:56:55


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