Titans Shut Down Rider, but Not UNLV : Basketball: They hold him to a career-low seven points, but other Rebels step up to beat Fullerton, 78-65.

LAS VEGAS —  Nevada Las Vegas swingman J.R. Rider has been touted as a lottery pick in the next NBA draft, but Cal State Fullerton had his number Saturday night.

The Titans, behind Bruce Bowen’s man-to-man effort and an occasional zone defense, did about as good a job on Rider as one could expect, limiting him to a career-low seven points--20 below his Big West Conference-leading 27.4-point average. It also was Rider’s first single-digit point total in his two Rebel seasons.

But as Fullerton discovered, these 16th-ranked Rebels are not just along for the Rider.

UNLV guard Dexter Boney scored 18 points, reserve guard Reggie Manuel scored 16--14 in the second half--point guard Dedan Thomas had 15 points and seven assists and Evric Gray had 14 points and a career-high 15 rebounds to lead the Rebels to a 78-65 Big West victory before 12,667 in the Thomas & Mack Center.

UNLV (6-0, 2-0 conference) extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 29 games and the nation’s longest home winning streak to 52; Fullerton fell to 5-3, 0-1 in the Big West.

“If we did anything right, we created problems for J.R.,” Fullerton Coach Brad Holland said. “We made him give the ball up on the double team and did a good job on him defensively. But to Las Vegas’ credit, the other players stepped up, knocked the shots down and got it done.”

The Titans were within three (52-49) midway through the second half when Manuel went on a tear, scoring nine consecutive points on a variety of drives to help the Rebels take a 61-55 lead with 7 minutes 24 seconds remaining.

Gray’s three-point play, Manuel’s three-pointer from the left corner and Thomas’ two free throws then capped an 11-0 run as UNLV moved out to a 69-55 lead with 4:55 left. The Titans never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.

“We all knew J.R. was having problems,” said Manuel, a sophomore from Macon, Ga. “It was time for someone else to step up, make the decision to play.”

Boney made that decision at the beginning of the second half, opening with a slicing drive to the basket and, soon thereafter, scoring eight consecutive points--including two three-pointers--as UNLV took a 47-42 lead with 15:27 remaining.

Boney then passed the torch to Gray, who scored his UNLV’s next five points, and then Manuel took over with his nine in a row. Thomas had the strongest finish, scoring eight of the Rebels’ last 11 points.

Bowen led Fullerton with 19 points and 10 rebounds--17 points coming in the first half--Sean Williams had 16 points and Kim Kemp had 12 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.

“We played a scrappy, aggressive team tonight,” UNLV Coach Rollie Massimino said. “We didn’t shoot the ball real well (45.5% from the field) but when we really needed to down the stretch, we played well.”

The Rebels were sluggish coming out of the gate, though. They made seven of their first 21 shots and finished the half shooting 36% (15 of 41), and several of their 12 turnovers in the first half (they had 18 in the game) were unforced.

Boney seemed to take out the Rebels’ first-half frustrations when, just before the halftime buzzer sounded, he slammed home a follow shot after Thomas missed from the outside to give UNLV a 35-34 lead going into the locker room.

The only reason UNLV led was that Fullerton was equally sloppy. Twelve of the Titans’ 19 turnovers came in the first half, and they failed to capitalize on numerous scoring opportunities because of a variety of mistakes, ranging from fumbled passes out of bounds to traveling violations.

“It was another case of beating ourselves,” Holland said. “We had a lot of unforced errors and a lot of turnovers. It wasn’t like we received a great amount of pressure and they were harassing us. We didn’t complete passes, and we couldn’t put the ball in the basket.”

The Titans shot 40% (26 of 65), were outrebounded, 45-37, and guard Don Leary, who had 15 three-pointers in his last two games, scored only nine points on three three-point shots.

They played hard Saturday night and could at least take consolation in the fact that they weren’t blown out--Fullerton’s last three trips to the Thomas & Mack Center resulted in losses of 29, 31 and 28 points.

But with two games down in what may be Fullerton’s toughest three-game stretch since the 1978 NCAA tournament, when the Titans beat New Mexico and San Francisco before losing to Arkansas in the final of the West Regional, all Fullerton has to show for itself is a hard-fought 90-82 loss to 11th-ranked UCLA, Saturday’s loss to 16th-ranked UNLV and today’s trip to Las Cruces, N.M., for Monday’s game against conference-favorite New Mexico State.

And talk has already turned to moral--not actual--victories.

“When we finish this swing, if we can come out believing we can compete with ranked teams, it will be a good accomplishment,” Holland said. “Each week we’re getting a little better.”

Notes

A UNLV Runnin’ Rebels 1990 national championship banner hangs over midcourt in the Thomas & Mack Center, but, interestingly, nowhere on the banner is the NCAA mentioned. . . . The Titans have not won a game in Las Vegas since 1961 when they beat UNLV, 109-88, in the final game of that season.