UNLV employs experience for victory

What a novel concept: A college basketball game in which the biggest plays are made by seniors.

It’s always good to see.

UNLV owned one final opportunity before the Mountain West tournament to earn a signature win against a nationally ranked opponent Wednesday night, to stay alive for a top three seed when it arrives, to add meat to an NCAA resume that is solid in some spots and suspect in others.

The Rebels won on all counts.

They beat Colorado State 61-59 before 15,910 at the Thomas & Mack Center, a game decided on Anthony Marshall’s jumper with nine seconds left and one UNLV then had to wait through Daniel Bejarano’s missed 3-point try to make official.

Marshall never had made a game-winner in his UNLV career, and his first couldn’t have come at a more significant time. Colorado State is ranked 22nd and built to win in March, a team that starts four seniors, has an experienced point guard and rebounds the ball better than anyone nationally.

It’s the sort of team you want to avoid at all costs in an elimination setting, that if you can beat now, affords you much confidence when facing a similar side in the NCAAs.

“A terrific win for us, a huge win,” UNLV coach Dave Rice said. “We made one more play than Colorado State.”

It came from Marshall, a senior leader who hardly had his finest game at point guard this season. Credit much of that to Colorado State, which refused one of the country’s best players off high ball screens driving lanes all night. Marshall hurt the Rams off such penetration in Fort Collins, Colo., last month, so they made him a jump shooter Wednesday.

He made only 3 of 9 shots, but the one that mattered most was clean and hit nothing but net.

This is the kind of win that helps a team such as UNLV mature. Colorado State is every bit in the race to win a conference title, a game back of a New Mexico side it hosts Saturday. The Rams have won 27 straight at Moby Arena. Should they beat the Lobos and emerge in a first-place tie, their remaining schedule is far softer than New Mexico’s.

You might have seen the league’s regular-season champions in town Wednesday night. Don’t be shocked if it plays out that way.

It’s a good win for UNLV because you knew CSU wouldn’t go away when trailing by 11 at halftime, because when you become the first of 26 opponents to outrebound the Rams as the Rebels did, you have shown an ability improve an area that has lacked much of the season.

You have reaffirmed the belief that your best basketball might come at the most important time.

“Colorado State is playing we well as anyone in our conference,” Rice said. “It was important for us to bring a sense of energy from the beginning. To outrebound a team like that (38-31) speaks to our persistence and tenacity. I couldn’t be prouder of our guys.”

Progress always is critical, especially this late in a season and an NCAA berth all but secured. The Rebels haven’t defended as well this year as they did the opening 20 minutes against CSU, answering missed opportunities to score with countless stops at the other end.

It was physical, a game in which the Rebels were whistled for 18 fouls and the Rams 17. The refs allowed contact from the opening tip. Good.

You want to win NCAA games and advance in a draw? You better learn how to win when toughness is the determining factor. Seniors usually get that. The Rams have some terrific ones throughout their starting lineup, a group that combined for 41 points and 22 rebounds against UNLV.

The Rebels start one, their most important one, the one who rolled off one of those high ball screens Wednesday night, found himself a foot or two worth of space and elevated for what would be the shot that felled a more-than-worthy opponent.

“I just stuck with it,” Marshall said. “I was missing some easy shots, but the coaching staff and my teammates had all the faith in the world in me to keep playing and keep shooting ... I wasn’t thinking about (seniors making big plays). It was just two good teams, an important game for us to win. More than anything, I was proud we got back after (his shot) and made the defensive stop.”

It was more a rushed miss by Bejarano, not as contested a 3 as the Rebels suggested afterward.

But you need a little luck to beat a team as good as CSU, and UNLV had it — along with all that persistence and tenacity. The NCAA resume is a tad fatter today.

A senior saw to that.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on “Gridlock,” ESPN 1100 and 98.9 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.