Marion does the job in 'T' time

There's something about technical fouls that seems to agree with Shawn Marion.

Not being assessed with them, mind you. The 6-foot-7 junior has yet to be T'd up. But when the other team gets zinged, guess who's there to make them pay?

Last week, TCU's Vladimir Jaksic drew the referees' ire and Marion converted the ensuing two free throws to help get UNLV back into the game, a game the Rebels eventually won in overtime.

Saturday, it was Colorado State's turn. Marion had long since been in gear when the Rams were whistled for having six men on the court with just under three minutes to play at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Milt Palacio had reported in and was on the floor. The problem was, so were five of his teammates. Colorado State, which had erased an 11-point second-half deficit to lead 68-66, was hit with a technical and Marion calmly tied it by draining both free throws.

UNLV retained possession and Marion hit a long 3-pointer from deep in the left corner, giving him five straight points as part of a career-high 30-point evening. That helped carry the 13-7 Rebels to their ninth win in 10 games, 80-77.

"It was a little confusing out there," Marion said of the play that may have saved UNLV. "But when I got the ball in the corner, nobody really ran at me until it was too late, so I took the shot. I had a good look."

And with that 3-pointer falling, UNLV stayed ahead for good, 71-68.

There wasn't much CSU coach Ritchie McKay could say.

"I think we were excited," he said of the confusion which led to the critical call. "We didn't pay attention and we made a mistake. We have to be a little more responsible."

Credit guard Mark Dickel with noticing the 6-on-5 Rams power play. Dickel found himself double-teamed as soon as he took the inbounds pass and when he looked for an open teammate, he saw everyone was covered.

Dickel did the math and figured something didn't add up. So did the officials, who quickly caught on, stopped play and sorted things out at the scorer's table, where Palacio had tried to scurry back to from the floor. Too late.

Hoop du jour

Colorado State finished the first half of WAC play 3-4 and tied for fourth with TCU and Wyoming. The Rams play four of their final seven at Fort Collins and McKay believes his team can make up the necessary ground. "We're not playing for a spot in the (WAC) tournament," he said. "We're looking to win a championship." ... It comes around as often as a Jerry Tarkanian compliment toward former UNLV president Bob Maxson, but Brian Keefe blocked his first shot of the season when he got a piece of John Sivesind's shot in the first half. Keefe had one block last year. ... Despite the win, it was not a good night for the UNLV bench. Daniels' 16 points was it from a scoring standpoint and the subs produced just one rebound (Ike Epps), one assist (Daniels), three steals (Daniels again) and two turnovers (Donovan Stewart).

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