Rams horn in on Rebels’ turf

As the final, hopeless minutes ticked away, what UNLV sophomore Anthony Marshall could see and hear told the tale of his team's demise.

A basketball season blooming with optimism in early December has turned rotten.

"You never want to have a game like that where your fans are walking out of the building and you're hearing boos," Marshall said. "It's one of the worst feelings ever."

In their worst performance of the season, the Rebels were run off the Thomas & Mack Center floor in embarrassing fashion, falling 78-63 to Colorado State on Wednesday night.

By the end of the debacle, a few thousand fans remained from the crowd of 11,266, and many of them were booing loudly.

"We're not used to it. It doesn't feel good at all," coach Lon Kruger said of UNLV's third home loss of the season. "We've dug ourselves a hole. We've got to fight harder."

In a depressed and quiet locker room, Marshall addressed his teammates. "If we keep our heads down," he said, "it's only going to get worse."

The Rebels dropped to 14-5 overall and 2-3 in the Mountain West Conference after a game they never led.

The Rams (13-5, 3-1) were 12-point underdogs but outhustled and physically pounded UNLV behind senior forwards Travis Franklin and Andy Ogide. Franklin had 24 points and eight rebounds, and Ogide added 18 points and eight rebounds.

"They came out and fought harder than we did, beginning to end. They earned the game," said junior forward Chace Stanback, who topped UNLV with 16 points, eight of which came in the final four minutes, after the Rams had built a 14-point lead.

"It doesn't seem like everybody is in sync with each other and everybody is on the same page," Stanback added.

Marshall scored 14 points and made one of the Rebels' two 3-pointers in 15 attempts, continuing the team's trend of poor long-range shooting.

"It's a great signature win for our kids in terms of UNLV is one of the marquee teams in the Mountain West," Colorado State coach Tim Miles said.

Franklin said the Rams were hungry to avenge a 70-39 loss to the Rebels last year at the Thomas & Mack.

"UNLV's a great team, especially at home, and to come in here and get a win means a lot, especially after what they did to us here last year," Franklin said. "This is a big win for the program.

"Everybody says there's the top four teams and the rest, but we don't feel that way. We feel like we can play with the top four teams in the conference. This was a step toward that."

The Rebels were without second-leading scorer Tre'Von Willis, who missed his second straight game with a sore right knee.

Miles said Colorado State caught UNLV "short-handed" and "got lucky," but he was being kind and humble.

The Rebels were rarely in the game, emotionally and literally. They came out flat and trailed by 11 points early and 30-25 at halftime.

Marshall's 3 tied it at 31, but the Rams responded with an 11-2 run as Franklin scored six points.

"I thought they were quicker to the ball and quicker to the boards," Kruger said. "They won all the battles."

Justin Hawkins made two free throws to pull UNLV within 53-50 with 7:31 remaining. Colorado State ripped off the next seven points, with Franklin's three-point play extending the lead to 60-50 with 5:50 to go.

Just over two minutes later, Franklin produced another three-point play to put the Rebels in a 69-54 hole.

UNLV fans headed for the exits, and several of those who stuck around for the final buzzer voiced their displeasure.

"We played a bad game," Marshall said. "We've got to challenge each other to compete harder."

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