THE ELEVATOR:

Going up, going down

Sat, Mar 22, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Who’s going to the penthouse in local sports and beyond — and who’s getting the shaft:

GOING UP

UNLV hoops

If that first-round game was a horse race, Kent State was a Grade-III pony that couldn’t handle the big track against the Rebels. For a change, UNLV players went against foes their own size and dominated them. Today it’ll be a different story for UNLV against Midwest No. 1 seed Kansas. The Rebels won’t look like the Golden Flashes. Still, they’ll be a Grade II entry in a Grade I race.

The ace

College of Southern Nevada hurler Colby Shreve, a 6-foot-4 righty out of Bonanza High, took a 5-0 record into this weekend’s series at Salt Lake Community College. He had a 1.02 ERA, and foes were hitting a meek .143 against him. CSN (20-7, 9-3 in the Scenic West Athletic Conference) won nine in a row to get within two games of league leader Salt Lake.

X-Man

Look for UNLV first baseman Xavier Scruggs to occupy a prominent spot, or two, when the NCAA starts releasing its national baseball statistics next week. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound junior from Poway, Calif., sits atop the Mountain West Conference with five home runs, a .493 batting average and a .901 slugging percentage.

Vroom

Kyle Busch is making older brother Kurt, and the rest of his Sprint Cup and Craftsman Truck Series foes, eat dust. The Las Vegas native is leading the top NASCAR circuit, with one victory in five starts, in his No. 18 Toyota. And he’s leading the truckers, with two wins in three starts, in his No. 51 Chevy. That would be an impressive double.

The vet

Longtime Las Vegas resident and Valley High graduate Greg Maddux continues to hum along for the Padres in spring training. He’s 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA in three starts. He’s 347-214 in his incredible career. Eight more victories and he’ll pass Roger Clemens for eighth on the all-time list. Seventeen more and he’ll edge past Warren Spahn for sixth. Maddux turns 42 in April.

GOING DOWN

Wanting it both ways

Please, BYU Athletic Director Tom Holmoe, enough with the hypocrisy. You complain to the Mountain West Conference about security measures at the basketball tournament, which caused all kinds of problems last Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center. But why didn’t you constrain your own fans, who did their own damage when they stormed Sam Boyd Stadium after the Cougars won the Las Vegas Bowl in December?