Terry key to Rebels’ late rally

When a basketball team falls asleep on its feet, as UNLV did for a long stretch Friday night, someone must answer the alarm. That someone turned out to be Curtis Terry.

The senior point guard showed up just in time, and he brought his shooting eye.

Terry buried a series of big shots on his way to a career-high 26 points, leading the Rebels to a 76-65 victory over Montana State in the season opener for both teams at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"I just found good spots to get good shots," said Terry, who scored 12 points in the final five minutes.

UNLV led by 20 points three minutes into the second half before its sloppy play allowed the Bobcats to rally to within 62-57 with four minutes remaining.

A game that had been shaping up as a blowout turned into nail-biter for the crowd of 10,013.

Terry hit a fadeaway 3-pointer from the top to put the Rebels up by eight with 3:45 left. A minute later, he made two free throws, and with

1:23 to play, Terry spun into the lane and sank a short jumper to ice it.

"Curtis hit some really big shots. He carried us down the stretch," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said, pleased with his team's reaction after getting whipped for most of the second half.

"It was a good opportunity to see how we respond, and I think we responded very well," he said.

Kruger has plenty of work to do with the Rebels, who next play Tuesday at home against Dixie State.

UNLV lost the rebounding battle 48-39 to a Montana State team with no size and little talent. The Bobcats -- led by center Divaldo Mbunga's 14 points and seven rebounds -- pulled down 19 offensive rebounds, causing Kruger to say he was "very concerned" by his team's weak effort in the paint.

"They were more physical than we were and much more aggressive," Kruger said.

The Rebels shot 14-for-31 (45.2 percent) in the first half and held a 40-26 lead. But they lapsed into lackadaisical play early in the second half and were outscored 22-9 until Terry's crucial 3.

"As you can see, a 20-point lead can get down to five real easy. We sustained it just enough," said Terry, who hit 9 of 12 from the field, including 2 of 3 3-pointers, and 6 of 10 free throws.

"It just happened to be my night," he said. "It will probably be another guy on another night."

Junior guard Wink Adams finished with 11 points on 5-for-16 shooting. But Adams made just 1 of 6 3-pointers as UNLV shot 5-for-22 from long range.

"I'm in a slump right now," said Adams, the only returning starter from last season's 30-7 team that reached the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16.

Terry played in all 37 games last season, and averaged 4.5 points per game, but he did not start once. He started and finished Friday.

In his first game for UNLV, junior center Emmanuel Adeife had six points, four rebounds and four blocked shots.

Kruger used a nine-man rotation, and junior guard Mareceo Rutledge came off the bench to hit two 3-pointers and score nine points.

The Rebels were running early, taking a 23-8 lead after Rutledge came up with a steal and fed Rene Rougeau for a dunk.

"Every team across the country is going through a learning period right now, trying to find out what kind of team they will be, and hopefully we find out quick," Terry said.

UNLV 76

Montana State 65

FG FT Reb

MONTANA ST. Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Howard 15 1-6 0-0 0-0 0 2 2

Mbunga 26 7-11 0-0 6-7 0 5 14

Taylor 29 4-13 3-5 1-6 3 4 11

Durham 29 1-9 2-2 2-4 1 4 5

Davis 25 4-6 3-6 3-8 0 4 11

Hennessy 13 0-1 0-0 0-2 1 1 0

Friesen 24 1-5 4-4 1-3 2 0 6

Zamora 14 0-2 0-0 2-6 0 3 0