Secret weapon dashes ‘Jacks

On a UNLV team with a variety of scoring weapons, sophomore guard Kendall Wallace was a secret. But that was before his shooting exhibition Thursday night.

Wallace came off the bench firing and finished with the best game of his career.

Senior guard Wink Adams scored 18 points, Wallace had 14, and the Rebels ran over Northern Arizona 87-71 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"We're a deep team, and we try to get everyone involved," Wallace said. "It can come from anybody on any night. It's another exciting part of this team."

UNLV (3-0) closed the first half with a 14-0 run that was punctuated by Wallace's two 3-pointers in the final minute.

In victories over San Diego and Texas-Pan American, Wallace shot 1-for-8 and scored a total of eight points. But he had 11 points by halftime as the Rebels raced to a 54-31 lead against the Lumberjacks (1-2).

"I was having some struggles from the 3-point line," he said. "This really boosts my confidence. I was pretty pumped."

Northern Arizona coach Mike Adras was deflated. Adras recruited Wallace out of Mesa, Ariz., two years ago to no avail.

Adras anticipated exactly what he saw from Adams, and he was hardly surprised that UNLV seniors Joe Darger and Rene Rougeau scored 11 points apiece. Rougeau added eight rebounds, and Darger shot 3-for-5 from 3-point range.

"You expect Wink and Darger to get something done, and Rougeau is just a fabulous player," Adras said. "But leaving Wallace open was a complete breakdown on our part.

"If you let the home team get going early, it gets their confidence up and it goes from player to player."

Adams poured in 14 points in the first half as the Rebels avoided the sluggish starts that plagued them in previous games.

Freshman point guard Oscar Bellfield hit a 3-pointer to put UNLV up 11-2, and senior Mareceo Rutledge made both of his 3-point attempts.

Freshman swingman DeShawn Mitchell broke loose for a fast-break dunk and followed with a jumper in the lane to make the score 30-14 with 11:43 left.

Wallace wrapped up the half with a buzzer-beating 3 to send the Rebels into the locker room ahead by 23. Wallace made 4 of 6 3-pointers in 14 minutes and topped his previous career high of nine points set in his first college game last year at Northern Arizona.

"It's great to see Kendall making shots," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. "We finished the first half on a big run, which really set the stage for the rest of the game.

"I like the direction we're going. We took big steps tonight over the previous two ballgames. I thought Wink had his best ballgame by far."

The Lumberjacks chopped their deficit to 12 midway through the second half, but Tre'Von Willis responded with a layup and Darger drilled a 3 to put the Rebels ahead 73-56 with 7:32 to go.

UNLV shot 30-for-51 (58.8 percent) from the field, including 11-for-19 from 3-point range, in its most impressive performance of the season before a crowd of 11,760.

Matt Johnson and Josh Wilson each scored 18 points for Northern Arizona.

Adras, a graduate of Bishop Gorman High School, where he won two states titles as a player and two as a coach, voted the Rebels No. 19 in this week's ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll.

"You'll find out more about them when they take their show on the road for the first time," Adras said. "If they win, they're a top 25 team. If not, then I won't vote them as high next time."

UNLV, sitting just outside the top 25 in both polls, hosts North Carolina A&T on Saturday before a road test at Texas-El Paso on Monday.

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