Adams, Rebels heat up late
EL PASO, Texas -- In a split second of hesitation, Wink Adams wondered if he should take the shot. He dribbled, eyed the rim and overcame a feeling of adversity.
After missing his first five 3-point attempts Monday night, Adams stepped up and buried the sixth.
"I was in a shooting slump, and I was kind of nervous shooting it," the UNLV senior said. "I only hit one 3, and that's the one we needed the most."
Adams scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half to push the Rebels to an 80-67 victory over Texas-El Paso before a crowd of 8,912 at the Don Haskins Center.
Adams' 3-pointer with 3:20 remaining put the Rebels ahead 71-64, and it was the shot that effectively threw dirt on the Miners.
UNLV passed its first road test to improve to 5-0 for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.
Adams got a lot of help from sophomore Tre'Von Willis and freshman Oscar Bellfield, two point guards playing in their first road game as Rebels. Willis had 17 points and six rebounds, and Bellfield scored 10 points.
"This is definitely a statement game, and we pulled it together and got it done," Willis said. "We've got our senior nucleus of four, but the rest of us are all young. We wanted to take the challenge head on, and we knew we were going to be in for a battle."
Adversity hit early. UNLV trailed by 13 points with seven minutes left in the first half when Adams gathered the other three seniors -- Joe Darger, Rene Rougeau and Mareceo Rutledge -- and delivered a message of wisdom to the rest of the team.
"Me, Rene, Joe and Mo all got in a huddle and said, 'We've got to keep our composure. We're down by 13 but there's a lot of time left,' " Adams said.
Willis made two 3-pointers as the Rebels crawled from a 30-17 hole to pull within 38-35 at halftime.
"We took their best punch and we were only down three," Adams said.
UNLV scored the first seven points of the second half before Bellfield, who was scoreless in the first half, got rolling. His 3-pointer put the Rebels up 56-52 with 11:44 remaining.
"This is a great win for us," Bellfield said. "I'm sure some people doubted us."
Adams made key plays before and after his only 3-pointer. He drove through the lane and dropped in a left-handed layup to give UNLV a 67-59 lead with six minutes to go.
The margin still was eight points when Adams stole a pass under UTEP's basket at the 2:20 mark.
"In the first half we were a little tentative, but I thought we got more physical," said coach Lon Kruger, who credited better defense and rebounding for the Rebels' turnaround.
Senior guard Stefon Jackson had 20 points and sophomore guard Randy Culpepper scored 11 for the Miners (2-1). But Jackson and Culpepper combined to shoot 10-for-36.
Bellfield's defense was a factor in Jackson's off night.
"He's a great player and I was trying to contain him," Bellfield said. "I think I played good defense."
UNLV's interior play was stronger than usual. Rougeau finished with 11 points and eight rebounds, and junior forward Darris Santee dunked twice in the first three minutes on his way to eight points.
Sophomore guard Kendall Wallace scored six points in seven minutes off the bench.
The Rebels shot 26-for-51 (51 percent) from the field and 20-for-26 on free throws. Adams made 7 of 8 free throws and Willis made 7 of 9.
There was little offensive flow to the game for either team as the officials called 51 total fouls.
Adams, who added six rebounds, six assists and five steals, was most impressed by the play of Bellfield and Willis.
"Oscar was knocking down shots and Tre did a lot of things for us," Adams said. "It was a team effort, and I'm so proud of the whole team."
Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.
UNLV 80, Texas-El Paso 67
UNLV Min FG-A FT-A R A PF TP
Santee 23 3-5 2-2 4 0 4 8
Darger 29 2-7 0-0 4 2 4 5
Adams 37 6-13 7-8 6 6 1 20
Rougeau 32 5-7 1-3 8 2 2 11
Willis 26 4-9 7-9 6 1 4 17
Bellfield 24 4-6 0-1 1 2 2 10
Wallace 7 1-1 3-3 0 1 2 6
Rutledge 11 1-2 0-0 2 0 2 3
Massamba 9 0-1 0-0 1 0 4 0
Hamga 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
TOTALS 200 26-51 20-26 35 14 25 80
Field goals--51.0%. Free throws--76.9%.
Three-point goals--8-21 (Willis 2-3, Bellfield 2-3, Wallace 1-1, Rutledge 1-2, Darger 1-5, Adams 1-7). Team rebounds--3. Blocked shots--2 (Willis, Rougeau). Turnovers--16 (Adams 4, Rougeau 3, Darger 2, Santee 2, Rutledge 2, Bellfield, Wallace, Willis). Steals--5 (Adams 5).
UTEP Min FG-A FT-A R A PF TP
Moultrie 25 3-5 2-3 5 0 3 8
Cooper 12 1-2 0-0 1 0 4 3
Culpepper 30 4-17 0-0 0 1 4 11
Stone 26 2-4 1-3 3 4 3 5
Jackson 39 6-19 8-12 7 4 4 20
Jones 12 1-2 0-0 3 0 1 2
Ffrench 14 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0
Portalatin 10 0-0 0-1 3 1 3 0
McCulley 21 2-3 5-6 3 1 2 10
Britten 11 4-5 0-2 4 0 0 8
TOTALS 200 23-57 16-27 36 12 26 67
Field goals--40.4%. Free throws--59.3%.
Three-point goals--5-13 (Culpepper 3-9, McCulley 1-1, Cooper 1-1, Jackson 0-1, Stone 0-1). Team rebounds--6. Blocked shots--2 (McCulley 2). Turnovers--17 (Jones 3, Culpepper 3, Moultrie 3, Cooper 2, Jackson 2, Frrench, Stone, Britten, McCulley). Steals--10 (McCulley 2, Stone 2, Moultrie 2, Jones, Culpepper, Jackson, Cooper).
A--8.912. Officials--David Hall, Tom O'Neill, Dan Chrisman. Technical fouls--None.
UNLV 35 45 -- 80
UTEP 38 29 -- 67
Slideshow UNLV -- 80 TEXAS-EL PASO -- 67 KEY: Wink Adams' 3-pointer with 3:20 remaining put the Rebels ahead 71-64. Adams scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half. NEXT: California at UNLV, 5 p.m. Friday, KWWN-AM (1100)
