Rebels stumble to finish line

A terrific start for UNLV and Chace Stanback took a turn for the worse, so much so that the junior forward said he was embarrassed by a "terrible" finish.

It was not the worst possible scenario, though, because the Rebels were humbled and still emerged 9-0.

"It's nice to be undefeated," Stanback said Wednesday night. "But I'm disappointed."

Stanback scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half for 20th-ranked UNLV, which took a huge early lead, fell asleep at the wheel and barely held on to beat Boise State 75-72 at the Orleans Arena.

The Broncos (6-2) cut a 22-point deficit to two before time ran out on their riveting comeback.

Senior guards Derrick Jasper and Tre'Von Willis each scored 14 points and sophomore guard Anthony Marshall had 11 for the Rebels.

"It's a reality check," Marshall said.

UNLV, comfortably in front and possibly looking ahead to Saturday's game at 24th-ranked Louisville (7-0), was nearly caught from behind while staggering to the finish line.

Willis and Stanback made back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Rebels on top 15-0.

Stanback scored 14 points in the first 10 minutes, and Marshall made a 3 to stretch the lead to 28-6 before the Broncos slowly started their charge.

"You get too relaxed with a big lead," said Stanback, who shot 6-for-11 and had six rebounds. "We've got to play harder for 40 minutes instead of 20. We had a terrible second half. I'm sure everybody on the team is disappointed, coaches and players."

Boise State, which trailed 41-27 at halftime, pulled within 50-42 on La'Shard Anderson's 3-pointer with 14:30 remaining. UNLV seemed to regain control and led 71-59 on Jasper's layup with 2:10 to go.

But the Broncos took advantage of the Rebels' lackadaisical play, and Robert Arnold's 3 from the corner narrowed the margin to 73-69 with 31 seconds left.

After an offensive foul by Willis, Anderson hit a 15-foot jumper to slice the deficit to two with 23 seconds remaining. Willis hit two free throws, Boise State's Daequon Montreal made the second of two free throws, and UNLV burned the final five seconds to allow a crowd of 8,320 to exhale.

The Rebels finished with 22 turnovers, 15 in the second half, to leave coach Lon Kruger fuming.

"It was a really poor stretch at the finish," Kruger said. "When you're so sloppy with the ball and have careless turnovers, it puts the game in doubt."

Anderson and Arnold scored 18 points apiece for the Broncos, with Anderson getting 14 after halftime.

"We've got to guard the ball a lot better. Our help defense wasn't very good," Jasper said. "We came out with a lot of fire and a lot of energy and just became complacent."

UNLV shot 49 percent for the game, including 11-for-22 in the second half, but poor passing and a passive effort in general down the stretch almost spelled disaster.

"It was just a lot of mental errors," said Marshall, who shot 3-for-4 from the floor and 4-for-4 at the line but committed five turnovers.

Kruger credited Boise State, which joins the Mountain West Conference next season, for being a "really talented team." But he has only one day of practice to prepare his team for its toughest test yet.

The Rebels' visit to Louisville, for a 9 a.m. tip-off Saturday, will be their seventh straight game away from home.

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