Thursday, March 6, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
If there was one constant in Tuesday's opening round of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament, it was balanced scoring among the winning teams.
No one player carried the load for UNLV, Southern Methodist or New Mexico in helping his team advance to the quarterfinals. And if the Rebels expected to beat Tulsa today and advance to Friday's semifinals, it would likely have taken more of the same.
A win would have produced a third meeting against the winner of the Texas Christian-Fresno State game which followed UNLV-Tulsa. The Rebels, who defeated Rice 71-61 and were 20-8 going into the Tulsa contest, swept TCU and split with Fresno State, each winning on its home court.
A loss would have dropped the Rebels to 20-9 and given them a week off until the opening round of the NIT either March 12 or 13 at the Thomas & Mack Center. Their NCAA dreams would likely have evaporated.
The players watched the other games and they realize how a balanced attack makes them a more formidable foe.
"If everyone's contributing, it makes you that much tougher to beat," said center Keon Clark. "As you could see, they (Rice) had two, three guys on me, so we needed the other guys to step up, which they did."
No Rebel had more than 12 points. But three UNLV players had a dozen and two others had 11 in the first-round win over the Owls. That hasn't been the case in most of UNLV's 20 wins as Clark or Tyrone Nesby has dominated.
But this is tournament basketball. And with teams able to focus on scouting, balance becomes even more important.
"I think it's important all season long," said Rebels coach Bill Bayno. "The best teams have balanced scoring. But as long as you're playing hard and taking care of business, that's the important thing."
Nesby, who was held four points under his average by Rice, said that's fine as long as others are chipping in.
"We need to have everyone come out and contribute," he said. "That's the key to winning. You saw what happened with Rice. They had one guy (Shaun Igo) have a big game, but he didn't get any help."
Point guard Kevin James said he didn't have to worry about feeding the hot hand because everyone was helping with the scoring.
"It helps a lot when you don't have to rely on one player," he said. "If everyone's shooting the ball good, you just get it to the open man."
But for UNLV to continue winning, it will not just be a matter of getting everyone involved offensively. Bayno said it will take everyone defending, rebounding and scrapping.
"You can't change what got you here," he said. "If you look at the way we've won this year, it's guys diving on the floor for loose balls, everyone bouncing and working on defense and winning the battle of the boards."
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