Vaughn leads Rebels’ win over Sam Houston State

Two days later, it was deja vu. Rashad Vaughn triggered a sluggish offense for UNLV, which overcame a double-digit deficit and needed a last-second defensive stop to survive.

The Rebels were living on the edge in their first two games of the season, games that followed a nearly identical script, but they came out alive.

Vaughn was the catalyst in both victories, with the freshman guard scoring 16 of his 18 points in the second half Sunday as UNLV rallied past Sam Houston State 59-57 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

After playing a game in a half-full arena — the announced crowd was 10,902 — senior point guard Cody Doolin assessed the weekend with a fittingly optimistic view.

“It’s awesome to be 2-0,” Doolin said. “Offensively, we have not played near our best basketball game, and we won two games. I think we proved we can win ugly, and that’s really important.”

The Rebels will pack up their pair of ugly wins and travel to Brooklyn, N.Y., to join Stanford, Duke and Temple for the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic final rounds Friday and Saturday.

“It’s a dangerous recipe to get down 11 against a good team,” coach Dave Rice said. “We can’t keep getting down and expecting to come back.”

Vaughn scored 26 points Friday, when UNLV erased an 11-point deficit in the second half to hold off Morehead State 60-59, and it was essentially the same story two days later.

This time, Vaughn shot life into a slumping offense, connecting on 7 of 19 from the field, including 2 of 5 3-pointers. And the Rebels again rallied from an 11-point hole, only to find themselves at the mercy of an open shooter with the clock about to strike zero.

The Bearkats (1-1) had a shot to win, but Dakarai Henderson’s 3-point try from the wing bounced off the rim just before the buzzer.

Doolin stepped up with 10 points and seven assists for the Rebels, and freshman forward Goodluck Okonoboh added six points, 10 rebounds and six blocks.

“I’m going to take the win and be happy,” Okonoboh said. “We have a lot of young guys on our team. Obviously, we’re still growing as a team, there’s a lot of room for improvement and we’re going to get a lot better. I’m pretty excited for what the season has to offer.”

Aside from the thrill of victory, UNLV experienced the agony of poor free-throw shooting (12 of 27) and weak rebounding. Sam Houston held a 14-rebound advantage and grabbed 20 on the offensive end.

The Bearkats were bitten by their biggest weakness — 3-point shooting (9 of 36) — on the final play of the game. Henderson had a clear look at the rim on his last shot, but it was just a little too strong.

“It was very nerve-racking,” said Doolin, who left the floor for one minute.

“I don’t want to play Cody 39 minutes every game,” Rice said, “but I thought that’s what the situation required.”

The Rebels’ trips to the foul line racked some nerves. Missed free throws by Doolin (2 of 7) and Vaughn (2 of 5) allowed Sam Houston to almost slip through the back door in the final minute.

The Bearkats, who led 30-28 at halftime, scored the first nine points of the second half. Vaughn drove baseline for a layup to stop UNLV’s scoring drought at the 16:14 mark. The Rebels capped a 13-0 run and claimed a 41-39 lead on Jordan Cornish’s two free throws with 12:10 to go.

The momentum swung back and forth, and Henderson’s 3-pointer put the Bearkats ahead 47-43 with 8:59 left.

Patrick McCaw’s layup and Vaughn’s breakaway dunk helped the Rebels reclaim the lead, and then Vaughn and McCaw hit back-to-back 3s to put UNLV up 57-49 with four minutes remaining.

After Doolin missed two free throws, Jabari Peters drained a 3 from the corner to cut Sam Houston’s deficit to 57-54 with 1:08 to go, and a 3 by Kaheem Ransom trimmed the Rebels’ lead to one. Vaughn missed the first and made the second free throw with 15.6 seconds left.

“If we just make our free throws,” Doolin said, pausing. “It was poor down the stretch. But as the season goes on, I think we’ll be a very good free-throw shooting team.”

The Rebels benefited from the officials’ whistles, attempting 17 more free throws than the Bearkats, and also got a valuable boost from three freshmen (Cornish, McCaw and Dwayne Morgan) off the bench.

“Every experience is new for us,” Rice said.

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. Follow him on Twitter: @mattyoumans247.