Friday, March 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
When you're a young team trying to run with the big boys, you're going to encounter growing pains.
Turnovers. Missed opportunities. Calls that don't go your way. An inability to play with a lead and put a team away. All are bumps in the road when you're trying to take your program to the next level.
Unfortunately for UNLV, it all came together in one tidy package Thursday. The Rebels' brave and desperate comeback came up short in Tulsa's 68-65 win in the WAC Tournament quarterfinals, in front of 11,459 at the Thomas & Mack Center.
"We played very hard and battled all game long," said coach Bill Bayno, as his team fell to 20-9 and will have to wait for Sunday to see what lies ahead for the postseason.
"We had to give up 5-6 inches at every position. But our kids scrapped, fought and defended and I'm very proud of them."
In the end, it came down to making plays. Tulsa rode senior swingman Shea Seals and sophomore forward Michael Ruffin while making its last five free throws.
UNLV, meanwhile, couldn't get the big shot to drop. Kevin James' attempt to tie from the top of the key with two seconds to go was off the mark and Tulsa survived to meet Texas Christian in an all-Mountain Division semifinal tonight at 6.
"It's tough for me to sit here and watch these other teams play," said Warren Rosegreen, who tried to energize his teammates with eight points, seven rebounds and two big blocked shots. "I'm hurting right now just thinking about it."
Senior guard Damian Smith, who had 11 points off the bench to help spark the second-half comeback, said: "We came so close to getting the W. We had a few big plays to get us going but we got caught up in the excitement a little and it got a little out of control."
After being outplayed during the first half and trailing by 10 at intermission, UNLV got the spark it needed when Rosegreen hustled back after a turnover and blocked Rod Thompson's shot early in the second half.
It set the stage for an 18-5 run that brought UNLV back from the dead and resulted in a 59-52 lead. But then came the string of turnovers. Five in a row, and Tulsa tied it at 59 en route to leading 64-61.
In between was a tough call in the final minute on Sunshine Smith, who had defended Seals throughout the possession and appeared to have shut him down as the shot clock was about to expire. Seals went up, Smith stripped him of the ball, but got called for a reach-in foul.
Seals made one of two tries with 45 seconds to go, the second starting Tulsa's string of five straight makes from the line.
"It's frustrating," Bayno said. "We play hard. We play well enough to win and it comes down to a couple of calls.
"But I can't get upset," he said of the turnovers that Tulsa capitalized on to regain the lead. "Two of the turnovers were big, but we were trying to make something positive happen and they (Rebel guards) were trying to push the ball the way we teach them."
Rosegreen said it wasn't any one play that got the team going, just a renewed commitment to playing the way it's capable of.
"There were a lot of plays," he said. "I was just trying to play hard like I always do."
James said: "We weren't going to give up. It was just a matter of playing harder and together."
As for James' shot that would have forced overtime, he said he had a clean look at the basket.
"I was pretty open," he said. "They were denying Damian and Tyrone (Nesby) and coach said whoever had the best look to take the shot, so I took it."
That the Rebels even came back was a credit to their defensive tenacity and willingness to battle.
After allowing Tulsa to shoot 52 percent in the first half, UNLV limited the Golden Hurricane to just 30 percent over the final 20 minutes.
Seals, an All-American who averages 21.5 points per game, was held to 6-of-20 shooting and finished with 17 points. The Rebels threw a lot of different looks at him, starting Nesby on him, then using Rosegreen and Sunshine Smith.
"We did a great job on Seals," Bayno said. "I think the different looks hurt him. We just wanted to make sure we were physical with him and made him earn whatever he got."
But it wasn't just the job on Seals. UNLV's team defense was much improved over the final 20 minutes. Yet, Tulsa deserves credit for not losing its composure and having Ruffin step up and deliver 18 points.
"This was a great game," coach Steve Robinson said of the win which pushed his team's record to 23-8. "I like to call these kind of games 'huggers' because afterwards when you're in the locker room, you're so excited that you grab someone and hug them."
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