Thursday, March 6, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Ruffin scored eight points in a row to tie the game at 61-61 with 3:02 left Thursday afternoon, then Tulsa made crucial foul shots down the stretch to beat UNLV 68-65 in a WAC quarterfinal game.
The loss before a screaming home court crowd all but eliminated UNLV (20-9) from NCAA contention, while most likely securing a spot for Tulsa (23-8) in the postseason tournament.
Ruffin, who led Tulsa with 18 points, scored 10 of the last 15 points for the Hurricane, who squandered a 10-point halftime lead to trail by 59-52 with 6:30 left in the game after back-to-back 3-pointers by UNLV's Damian Smith.
"I knew it was coming down to that time of the game when we needed to score some baskets," Ruffin said. "We had to step it up right then. I didn't want to wait to the end to get it done. I knew it had to be or someone else to dig in."
UNLV rallied behind 61 percent second half shooting from a 39-29 halftime deficit in the opening game of four Thursday tournament games at the UNLV campus arena.
A game that started slowly grew in intensity in the second half as players battled inside, dove for loose balls and played tenacious defense.
"The pace of the game at times was beyond frantic," Tulsa coach Steve Robinson said.
Tyrone Nesby had 10 of his 19 points in the second half and UNLV held Tulsa without a field goal for nearly five minutes to begin the half to get back in the game.
"In the second half we did a great job of getting the ball inside and scrapping, possession by possession," UNLV coach Bill Bayno said.
Tulsa still led 47-43 with 14 minutes left, but UNLV went on an 18-5 run, capped by Smith's 3-pointers to give the Runnin' Rebels their biggest lead of the game.
Then it was all Ruffin, muscling his way inside for three straight baskets as UNLV suddenly couldn't hold onto the ball. Keon Clark put UNLV ahead for the last time at 61-59 on a dunk with 3:30 left, but Ruffin responded with a layup to put Tulsa ahead for good.
UNLV got to within 64-63 on a layup by Kevin James with 37.4 seconds left, and the Rebels fouled center Rafael Maldonado, who made both his free throws. After a Nesby basket, Rod Thompson was fouled with 8.7 seconds left and made both to give Tulsa the final margin.
A last-ditch 3-pointer by James clanged off the left side of the rim as the clock expired.
UNLV is expected to host a first-round NIT game next week if it does not get an NCAA invitation.
"Maybe the WAC deserves to have five teams in," Bayno said, still holding out hope for an NCAA invitation.
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