Tuesday, Feb. 20, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
He was headed for a night he'd want to forget. Instead, Kevin James had a night to remember.
The 5-foot-11 walk-on point guard from McKinney, Texas, didn't light UC Irvine up with his shooting Monday night. But he defended, rebounded and passed UNLV to a must-win 63-60 decision over the Anteaters at the Thomas & Mack Center to keep the Rebels' hopes alive for a berth in next month's Big West tournament.
UNLV, which improved to 6-9 in conference play (9-14 overall), has three games left beginning with Saturday's home finale against New Mexico State. It probably will need to win two of three to have a shot.
"We knew it was do-or-die," said James, who had five assists, six rebounds and three steals to go with three points. "And the way I started, I was kinda disappointed. I didn't want to let the team down."
James had the tough task of defending Raimonds Miglinieks, the conference's best point guard. And after Miglinieks took James to school the first three times UCI scored, coach Bill Bayno sat James down and let freshman Ben Sanders get a piece of the Latvian star.
And while Sanders and his teammates were trapping Miglinieks and forcing him into mistakes, James was regaining his composure. When he returned, he was assigned to sharpshooting Brian Keefe.
After Keefe burned him a couple of times, James was really shaken.
"I started out pretty slow and that bothered me," he said. "I just decided I was going to play as hard as I could when coach put me back in and try to make something happen."
Bayno said he wasn't going to give up on James, who had worked so hard to come from basketball oblivion to become the Rebels' starter at the point. And even though he was struggling against UCI, Bayno believed James could turn it around.
"Kevin's been our guy all year," Bayno said. "We had to take him off Raimonds and, while he gave up a bunch of baskets to Keefe, he kept working and he was helping the big guys."
James came up with some key rebounds down the stretch as Irvine struggled to make a field goal. The Anteaters, who began the second half trailing 37-27 and regained the lead at 42-41 with a torrid 15-4 start, made only three field goals over the final 10 minutes.
The Rebels, conversely, squandered their most consistent half of basketball of the season as their first-half effort dissolved in a 1-for-9 start from the floor in the second half. But despite trailing by as many as six with 10:42 to play, UNLV dug in defensively and gave the offense a chance to regroup.
"We defended the hell out of them," Bayno said. "That's what won it for us. If we make our shots at the start of the second half, they don't come back."
Still, the game was up for grabs in the final minute. The Rebels were clinging to a 62-60 lead when James was fouled with 36 seconds to go. It was his chance to clinch the hero's role, but he missed the front end of the 1-and-1.
However, Miglinieks threw the ball into Warren Rosegreen's hands with 23 seconds left and James was fouled again, this time with 19 seconds left.
He had a chance to redeem himself and managed to make the first of two free throws. But when he missed the second, UCI was still alive. The Anteaters spread the floor and had four legitimate 3-point threats on the floor.
And when Kevin Simmons found himself guarded by James, he went for it. But James, who was giving away nine inches to Simmons, contested the shot enough to where Simmons didn't get a clean look at the basket.
The shot went off the rim, Rosegreen grabbed his seventh rebound of the night and the Rebels were still alive, much to the delight of the season-low crowd of 4,633.
"Kevin did good," said Sunshine Smith, who finished with 13 points and some great defense on Miglinieks down the stretch. "He always works hard and it was good to see him come through the way he did at the end."
The same could be said of Sanders, who has had his ups and downs as a freshman. He defended Miglinieks well as part of UNLV's pressure scheme and he felt good about helping limit Miglinieks to just nine points on 3-of-9 shooting.
"I'm not scared of many guys," Sanders said of his assignment of checking a probable All-American. "I just tried to give him his left and stay in front of him and not get beat off the dribble.
"I haven't had a lot of chances to contribute to a win, so this is really sweet for me."
And for his teammates.
"We knew what was on the line," said Clayton Johnson, who had 14 points but twisted his right ankle in the final seconds and limped off the court. "I'm not ready to end my season."
Hoop du jour
* CHANCE SITS OUT: Junior guard Chancellor Davis sat out Monday's game as his sprained ankle kept him sidelined. Davis is expected back for Saturday's game with New Mexico State. ... Warren Rosegreen took another shot to his sore hip in the first half, but finished the game and was OK. "I'm just really beat up right now," he said. ... Clayton Johnson's ankle injury wasn't as serious as first appeared and he was moving around OK in the locker room afterward. "I'll be fine," he said. ... The Rebels will take today off and begin preparations for New Mexico State Wednesday.
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