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March 28, 2024

MWC Tournament:

Blog: Rebels come up short, 72-67, in emotional semifinal battle with New Mexico

Mountain West Conference Tournament - UNLV v. New Mexico

Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun

UNLV guard Anthony Marshall buries his face as time expires in their Mountain West Conference tournament semifinal game against New Mexico Friday, March 9, 2012. New Mexico won 72-67 and will face San Diego State in the championship game.

Updated Friday, March 9, 2012 | 10:26 p.m.

UNLV vs. New Mexico

KSNV coverage of the UNLV Rebels playing against the New Mexico Lobos, March 9, 2012.

MWC Tournament Semis - UNLV v New Mexico

UNLV guard Anthony Marshall heads off the court after their Mountain West Conference tournament semifinal game against New Mexico  Friday, March 9, 2012 at the Thomas & Mack Center. New Mexico won 72-67 and will face San Diego State in the championship game. Launch slideshow »

MWC Tournament Semis: Colorado State vs. San Diego State

San Diego State guard Jamaal Franklin celebrates his three-point shot against Colorado State during their Mountain West Conference tournament semifinal game Friday, March 9, 2012 at the Thomas & Mack Center. Launch slideshow »

New Mexico didn't miss a free throw in the second half, and after a difficult 72-67 loss for UNLV that's as big a reason as any other. The Rebels missed five free throws in the second half, a few of them at key points down the stretch.

UNLV's issues started before that, though, primarily with the second-half disappearance of Mike Moser. By the time he woke up, UNLV was digging itself out of an eight-point hole.

UNLV managed to tie the game with 2:20 to play, but New Mexico, after wavering a bit and showing some cracks, tightened up and put on the finishing touches of an impressive victory. Drew Gordon finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds in 38 minutes, and Tony Snell scored 15 points.

Anthony Marshall will take a lot of heat from fans for his shots in the final minutes, but he played with more heart than any other Rebel on Friday night. He finished with 19 points, including 10-for-12 at the free-trhow line. Oscar Bellfield scored 13 and Moser finished with 11 points and just three rebounds.

The Lobos advanced to play San Diego State in the conference final on Saturday at 4 p.m. while the Rebels are done and await their NCAA Tournament fate on Sunday.

Check lasvegassun.com later tonight for a full report on tonight's semifinal game.

Moser needs to step up to combat New Mexico's blistering 2nd-half shooting

If UNLV is going to come away with a victory, Mike Moser absolutely has to find his game, a task he struggled with the last time against New Mexico.

So far tonight, Moser has eight points, six of which he scored in the first half. He didn't get a second-half bucket until a mid-range jumper bounced and rattled in with about nine minutes to play. Moser jumped up and down, trying desperately to will the ball into the basket. UNLV trails 59-56 with 6:45 remaining, and he needs to find a few more points to make this comeback happen.

New Mexico is shooting 66.7 percent in the second half and out-rebounding the Rebels 33-18. Those two stats generally equal victories, but UNLV is still very much in this game, and if Moser shows up they can still win it.

The Rebels and Lobos come out firing again to start the second half

New Mexico's Kendall Williams brushed off any thoughts of momentum or rust with the first shot of the second half, a 3-pointer that tied that game after he sat most of the first half with two fouls.

He tied it, then the same type of back-and-forth, blitzkrieg action that dominated the first half picked right back up, and when we come out of the timeout, UNLV's Anthony Marshall will have a chance to tie the game at the free throw line as the Rebels trail 44-42 with 15:38 remaining.

Kendall Wallace got some early minutes in the second by virtue of his three first-half treys, but a bad shot has sent him back to the bench and it's Justin Hawkins' turn.

Speaking of Hawkins, his AAU teammate Demetrius Walker figures to be key for New Mexico down the stretch. According to Ken Pomeroy, who runs kenpom.com and is attending the game, the Lobos were +12 when Walker was on the court and -15 when he wasn't. Rebels fans should hope that New Mexico coach Steve Alford hasn't noticed that, too.

UNLV takes a small lead and a little momentum into halftime against New Mexico

If you haven't been able to watch this game thus far, do everything within your power to get to a TV for the second half because this is going to be a great finish.

At halftime, UNLV leads 34-31 thanks to a Kendall Wallace 3-pointer — his third — right before halftime. Wallace has nine points, Oscar Bellfield has 11 and Brice Massamba has six rebounds, which is more than he generally pulls down in a game.

The game started with a sprint out from the Rebels, but it didn't take long for New Mexico to come up with the counterpunch that evened things out and has made the game a back-and-forth affair ever since.

New Mexico's Drew Gordon has 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting and four rebounds. Other than that, the Lobos have been very balanced in shooting 50 percent from the floor in the first half.

Besides Gordon's production, the Rebels' biggest concern has got to be the rebounding numbers, which favor New Mexico 22-13. If that continues, it's going to equal too many second-chance points for UNLV to overcome. But if they solidify their interior presence, and getting Mike Moser back, who had two fouls, will certainly help with that, then the Rebels are playing with enough fire to pull this one out and advance to the conference title game.

Moser and Gordon trade dunks in thrill-a-minute first half at the Mack

Everything the break-neck start promised, this game has delivered.

Drew Gordon broke through the UNLV defense for a monster two-hande slam, and on the next possession Mike Moser answered with a one-handed dunk that started outside of the paint along the baseline. Even UNLV's Kendall Wallace is getting in on the action with a 3-pointer that puts the Rebels up 26-20 with 7:33 left in the first half.

Oscar Bellfield has nine points and Moser has six for the Rebels, while New Mexico is more balanced, shooting 53 percent from the floor.

The pace has allowed for some easy baskets at the rim, but that's just the cost of transition. For the most part, both teams (their offenses and defenses) are playing at the top of their game, and the emotion showed so far lets you know just how much this game means to both of them.

The Rebels and Lobos are on a blistering pace in an entertaining opening stretch

Through six minutes, this game has been everything it was billed up to be and more. Oscar Bellfield has nine points. The Rebels stormed out of the gates to a 13-point lead, and then just as quickly the Lobos came back with a run of their own, cutting the deficit to 17-12 with 13:47 left in the first half.

The action has been fast and, yes, a little furious. Jump shots, 3s, post battles. We've seen it all already, and most of it at a very high level.

Neither squad has shown any kind of restraint early on. That will surely change as more subs come in and legs get a little weary, but as far as starts go, this is everything you could ask for of a great basketball game.

Aztecs advance to the MW finals, await winner of UNLV vs. New Mexico

Jamaal Franklin is on pace to add a tournament MVP to his regular season Mountain West Player of the Year award.

Franklin led the Aztecs with 19 points and keyed a second-half run that put the game out of reach for the fourth-seeded Colorado State Rams. San Diego State won 79-69, advancing to the Mountain West tournament final for the fourth year in a row. They won the last two.

SDSU's Chase Tapley scored 17 and James Rahon had 15, but it all started with Franklin. He picked up his third foul early in the second half, but coach Steve Fisher decided to take a chance and leave him in the game. Franklin rewarded him with a stretch of scoring that put the Aztecs ahead ofr good and opened up the offense enough for other players to get in and bury the Rams.

Colorado State is still looking good for the NCAA Tournament and now the Aztecs are all but assured a top six seed in the Dance.

The only question left is who will be playing them for the tournament title?

Colorado State leads at halftime against San Diego State in the first semifinal game

Friday night at the Mountain West tournament has a reputation that far preceded its arrival. Not long after I joined the beat in December, I heard stories about the semifinal round, about UNLV San Diego State and BYU waging wars. And looking at the matchups being played out at the Thomas & Mack Center tonight, I expect another classic.

In the evening's opening game between top-seeded San Diego State and fourth-seeded Colorado State, the Rams have taken a 39-38 lead into halftime. It's been a competitive, back-and-forth contest that to this point has completely lived up to expectations.

And that's just an appetizer for the game that awaits in the nightcap. No. 2 New Mexico (25-6) vs. No. 3 UNLV (26-7). The last time they shared the same court, Lobos forward Drew Gordon was celebrated as a hero amidst the storming fans after registering 27 points and 20 rebounds in a 66-45 beatdown. But UNLV led that game by one at the half, so it's not like New Mexico is that much better than their counterparts.

Plus, this game isn't in Albuquerque. It's at the Mack, where UNLV hasn't lost all season.

In their quarterfinal games, both squads built big leads then suffered through late-game collapses before doing the most important thing in March: Survive and advance.

To do that tonight, both teams could go with a variety of game plans. But the ones that both defenses most have to guard against are the plans that feature Gordon and UNLV's Mike Moser. Both of them, former teammates at UCLA, have the ability to take over a game unlike anybody else on their respective rosters.

Victories can come from a lot of ways, but these defenses are going to be focused on making anybody else make the winning plays. If UNLV can do that — keep Gordon from dominating the game like he did at The Pit — then they have a chance to win by relying on their often-shaky perimeter defense. It's been a weakness, but last night against Wyoming the Rebels guards came up big. If they get more of that play AND can limit Gordon, UNLV will be in line for a victory.

That's a lot to ask, but New Mexico faces the same type of challenge against Moser and the UNLV guards.

This is about as even a matchup as you can hope for at this stage of the season. And when it's all said and done, I think UNLV finds a way to survive and advance.

UNLV 69, New Mexico 67.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.

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