No. 22 San Diego State upsets No. 12 UNLV, 69-67, in Mountain West Conference opener

SAN DIEGO -- Several times in the second half, Anthony Marshall made a play to put UNLV in position to win a game it deserved to lose.

"It just came down to one play," said Marshall, who was not the one to make it.

With time running out, guard Jamaal Franklin dribbled through the lane, twisted in the air and dropped in a layup with three-tenths of a second remaining to lift No. 22 San Diego State to a 69-67 victory over the 12th-ranked Rebels on Saturday.

The teams' Mountain West Conference opener at Viejas Arena concluded with a familiar theme for UNLV, which has lost nine of the past 10 series meetings, including six in a row.

"It would have been, from our perspective, just a crushing loss," Aztecs coach Steve Fisher said. "We had the lead for 39 minutes of the game and we hung on to get a win."

In the end, the Rebels (16-3) got what they deserved after a sloppy performance on both ends of the floor. Marshall, who scored 18 of his game-high 26 points after halftime, almost bailed them out.

"I just tried to make some things happen for the team," Marshall said. "No one player is going to win the game."

While Marshall was the lone UNLV player to score in double figures, the San Diego State duo of Franklin and James Rahon shot holes through confused Rebels defenders. Franklin finished with 24 points and Rahon had 22.

UNLV shot poorly from the field (35.3 percent) and free-throw line (11-for-21) and totaled five more turnovers (14) than assists, but its ultimate demise came down to a communication breakdown on defense.

Trailing by a point with the clock under 30 seconds, the Rebels took their first available look at the basket. Marshall pushed the ball up the court and fired a pass to senior center Brice Massamba under the rim. Massamba was fouled and made the second of two free throws to tie the score with 23 seconds to play.

At about the 10-second mark, Aztecs point guard Xavier Thames dribbled at the top to set up the final play. Thames was defended by Oscar Bellfield, and on the right wing, the Rebels' Mike Moser was sticking to Franklin.

As Franklin came from underneath to screen Bellfield, Moser switched to take Thames. But Bellfield also stayed with Thames while Franklin popped back to the right wing in the clear.

"If there was a screen, we were supposed to switch it," Moser said. "A miscommunication."

Thames passed to Franklin, Moser could not recover in time, and Franklin darted through the middle of the lane to lay in the winning shot.

"The first thing is to give a lot of credit to Franklin. That's a heck of a hard shot," said UNLV coach Dave Rice, who declined to assign blame for the defensive lapse. "They made one more play than we did."

A compilation of poor plays put the Rebels in a hole they were fortunate to escape. They shot 3-for-22 from the field in the first 12 minutes and eventually fell behind 24-14. Most of UNLV's misses were hurried, ill-advised attempts that were way off the mark.

"We made a lot of mental mistakes. We just missed open shots," said senior Chace Stanback, who shot 3-for-9 and went scoreless in the second half.

Rice used timeouts and multiple substitutions to try to shake his team from its funk, but nothing was working. The Rebels trailed 34-29 at halftime, with Moser shooting 0-for-6.

Rahon's jumper put San Diego State (15-2) in front 62-54 with 6:28 to go. Marshall kept hope alive for UNLV by scoring the next five points, and Justin Hawkins' 3-pointer tied the game at 62 with 3:42 remaining.

"The game could have gotten away," Rice said. "Anthony was terrific, particularly in the second half."

With a chance to take the lead at the three-minute mark, Marshall drove and was stripped by Chase Tapley, who passed to Franklin on the fast break. Franklin was fouled by Bellfield and converted a three-point play to turn the momentum.

"It doesn't even come down to that last shot, though," said Franklin, who made all eight of his free throws. "There were other things happening other than me making that last shot."

From the Rebels' perspective, most of the happenings were negative. Instead of getting close-range shots and using their size advantage, they hoisted 27 3-pointers and made eight. Stanback and Moser combined to hit only 2 of 9 3s and score 16 points, and Bellfield shot 1-for-12.

"It hurts a lot," Marshall said. "But this game is not going to dictate the conference. It's a long season."

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.