Thursday, March 13, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
All season, defense has bailed out UNLV. And whenever the Rebels needed a stopper, Sunshine Smith and Kevin James were there to do the honors Wednesday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.
With that in mind, coach Bill Bayno made the adjustments to keep his team on the floor next week in the National Invitation Tournament. His backcourt put the clamps on Memphis' hot shooters and despite making just three field goals over the final 12 minutes, the Rebels found their stroke at the foul line to overcome a 15-point deficit and eliminate the Tigers, 66-62.
Despite the second-smallest crowd of the year -- 6,575 -- turning out for the biggest game of the year, the NIT granted UNLV a second-round home game Monday against Hawaii. The Rainbows eliminated Oregon 71-61 to advance.
Game time has been set for 7:30 p.m. unless ESPN decides to televise, in which case it will be at 9 p.m.
Tickets, priced at $16 and $11 and $5 for students with current ID, are now on sale at the Thomas & Mack box office.
"I knew we'd fight back," said Bayno of his team, which improved to 21-9 with the come-from-behind victory. "But I didn't know if it would be enough."
Cedric Henderson had hit four straight shots and had abused Tyrone Nesby to the tune of 14 points. Enter Smith and voil'a! Instant doughnuts as Henderson didn't score the rest of the way.
"I just played defense the way I know how," Smith said of his handcuff job on Henderson. "I just told the guys to help me when he posted up. I knew he couldn't beat me off the dribble."
Henderson wasn't about to give Smith credit. Another mistake on his part.
"It wasn't nothing special," he said of his being blanked over the final 15 minutes. "I just didn't get the ball in the places I wanted it."
Perhaps Smith's smothering defense had something to do with that.
But it wasn't just Smith's defense that helped UNLV advance. He scored 14 points and came up clutch at the free-throw line by making 5 of 6 down the stretch, including the clincher with 3.9 seconds to go.
Smith said he wasn't going to spoil a great effort by bricking at the stripe.
"We were sitting on the bench during the timeout and I told the guys, "It's money,'" he said. "I knew I was going to make it because I wanted to win bad."
The Rebels won this game at the stripe. They went to the line 20 times in the second half to Memphis' six and UNLV made 17 of those 20 tries while the Tigers were 1 of 6.
It left Memphis coach Larry Finch steaming. He didn't want to close out his 11-year career by getting jobbed, which he thought was the case by the Big Sky officiating crew. UNLV shot 32 free throws to Memphis' 11.
"I don't want to take anything away from Vegas," said Finch, who finished his Memphis run 220-130. "They played aggressive defense and they capitalized when they needed to."
While Smith was locking Henderson up in jail, James was making sure gnat-quick guard Chris Garner didn't break down the Rebels' man-to-man pressure defense. He held Garner to just eight points while helping out on Sunday Adebayo, who was trying to post his way to the second round on Warren Rosegreen.
"I just tried to back off and give him a little room so if he tried to drive I could stay with him," James said. "We didn't want him getting penetration, then dishing off.
"I tried to help out whenever I could and I knew we had to get Warren some help on Adebayo."
And with the guards delivering defensively, the rest of the Rebels picked up the tempo. A 55-40 Memphis lead gradually disintegrated as UNLV forced turnovers, poor shots and chipped away. A 19-2 run put the Rebels up 59-57, their first lead since the eight-minute mark of the first half.
The amazing thing about the run was there were only four field goals made during the surge. Everything else came at the line because UNLV was no longer settling for jump shots, something that got the Rebels in the hole to begin with.
After getting off to a quick 11-5 start and appearing ready to play, the Rebels suddenly became a jump-shooting team. And they weren't hitting. Having seen that, Finch went to a zone defense and the Rebels' struggles really became magnified.
An extended 25-14 run by Memphis got the Tigers in front 30-25 with 3:23 to go in the half. And Memphis closed out the first 20 minutes in convincing fashion, using a 13-4 spurt to lead 36-27 at intermission.
"We shot too many threes early and as usual, that's fool's gold," Bayno said. "But I've said it many times that when we attack the basket, good things happen."
The 20 tries from the line are indicative of that.
The large deficit also produced a sense of urgency from the seniors, who were in danger of playing their final game had the status quo held up.
"We were scared," said Rosegreen, who struggled to score five points and grab only four rebounds. "But who wouldn't be? We sunk in the first half and when we got down 15, we knew this was it."
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