Rebels regrouped quickly against TCU

FORT WORTH, Texas -- A month ago, UNLV couldn't win a game like this.

The team that was struggling to handle success had blown a 13-point lead on the road to UCLA and left Pauley Pavilion with a bitter taste in its collective mouth knowing what could've been.

But time can do a lot of things, one of which is provide an opportunity to learn from one's misfortune. And when the Rebels' 14-point lead over Texas Christian disappeared in the final 4 1/2 minutes, they knew what to do.

They didn't panic, even though they had every right to.

Instead, Bill Bayno's team regrouped, got the ball to the right people, mainly Shawn Marion, Mark Dickel and Kevin Simmons, and the veterans took it home in overtime, giving UNLV a treasured split on the team's two-game Texas road trip, 95-88.

So what did they learn between Dec. 12 and last Saturday?

"We stayed together and we believed in each other," said Simmons, who helped seal the game with two drives to the basket that resulted in trips to the foul line, where he converted three of his four attempts and fouled out TCU's Marquise Gainous, he of the career-high 41 points, in the process.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game. But everybody is together on this team right now. Every night, someone else is stepping up and helping us. That wasn't happening a month ago."

There was no shortage of heroes emerging from UNLV's gut-wrenching win at hostile Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. Everywhere you turned in the victorious locker room, you could point to someone who played an important part in getting the first-place Rebels back on track in the WAC Mountain Division.

There was Dickel, the junior point guard who took a shot to the face from TCU star center Lee Nailon 34 seconds into the game that got Nailon ejected and left the 21st-ranked Horned Frogs without their best player. Dickel later got even by nailing a key 3-pointer at the start of overtime to get UNLV back in front.

There was Marion, who was struggling offensively, but got a spark nailing four straight free throws to get UNLV right back in the game when it appeared the Rebels were on the verge of falling out of it. He would finish with 18 points and nine rebounds.

There was Kaspars Kambala, atoning for his aloof and underachieving performance two nights before against Southern Methodist to score a career-high 29 points as Gainous couldn't stop him any more than Kambala could thwart Gainous.

"We lost a game to SMU we should have won and I felt responsible," Kambala said. "I knew I had to step it up and when they didn't double-team, I knew I could score on them."

And there was freshman guard Desmond Herod, who finally got a chance to deliver the goods and did so, scoring a career-best 18 points in 34 productive minutes.

With starter Brian Keefe hurting from the flu and unable to go more than four minutes at the start, Herod came in and came through. He was 5 of 11 from 3-point range after hitting five of his first six.

"The more confidence I get, the better a player I'll be," Herod said.

There was Greedy Daniels playing tough defense and defending his team's honor when things got physical early and the Horned Frogs tried to flex their collective muscle.

"I made it a point to let them know I wasn't going to be bullied," Daniels said. "We're not going to back down. You disrespect us, we're gonna retaliate."

But when it really counted, it was the two leaders, Simmons and Dickel, who got UNLV to the finish line in front. They made the big plays and kept everyone together.

"Kev was our MVP again," Bayno said. "He was our go-to guy. He attacked (offensively). He rebounded. He defended."

Bayno was also proud of Dickel for what he didn't do after Nailon clocked him.

"Mark kept his composure and that was big," he said. "We couldn't afford to retaliate and risk losing him. And that three he hit at the start of overtime was a huge shot."

TCU contributed to its own demise with three technical fouls. Along with Nailon's T and subsequent ejection, coach Billy Tubbs also got zinged, as did backup forward Vladimir Jaksic.

Jaksic's turned out to be huge as TCU was up 56-48 and appeared ready to put UNLV away with just over 15 minutes remaining. But Gainous fouled Marion and Jaksic bounced the ball in frustration and was hit with a technical.

Marion sank all four tries from the line and that ignited a 30-12 run which had the Rebels up 82-68 with 4:29 to go.

The Rebels stand atop the WAC Mountain at 4-1 (11-7 overall) heading into Thursday's game with Wyoming at the Thomas & Mack Center.

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