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Show DAILY THE. CHRONICLE UTAH SPORTS vr Utes Need Better Point-Guar- d Play UNLV Sends Utes to Bill Bayno kept his hair and his hopes LAS VEGAS for a conference championship alive Saturday night as UNLV handed Utah its first conference loss in nearly two years, 72-6- Fir MWC Loss self alone under the basket. Already leading by eight coming out of halftime, Mark Dickel and Kaspars Kambala scored the first four points of hole it would take the second half to put Utah in a most of the second half to climb out of. Utah took advantage of 25 attempts in the second half to chip away at the UNLV lead, eventually tying the game at 55 with nine minutes to go. Dickel scored seven of his nine second-hal- f points he had 18 overallin the final six minutes, hitting seven of his attempts. eight Kambala, who led all scorers with 20 and also grabbed 11 boards, didn't score a point for the Rebels during the last 15 minutes of the game. Also unable to get to the basket was the Utes' Hanno Mottola, who, despite scoring 16 points, didn't have a field goal in the game's last 10 minutes. It was Jensen who pulled the Utes within two with a pair from the line. Tony Harvey tied the game with six minutes STERLING CLIFFORD Chronicle Sports Writer free-thro- w 6. The Rebci coach promised to shave his head if the Thomas & Mack Center sold out for Saturday's game. It didn't, but the Rebels beat Utah in front of the largest home crowd UNLV has seen this season, The game was close in the early going with neither team leading by more than three for the first seven minutes, but with 12:44 to go in the first half and Utah leading tnc Rebels ran off 14 unanswered points to take an advantage. "You just can't get into a hole against UNLV on the road," Utah's Alex Jensen, who had 19 points and 11 rebounds, said. Dalron Johnson scored six points during the Rebels' run on three uncontested layups when he found him free-thro- w 16-1- 3, BRANDON see UTES, page JS 13 WiNN Chronicle Sports Editor There is no secret why the Utes have struggled on the road this season and why they will continue to have problems winning in hostile environments. They don't have the best point guard in the league. For the past three seasons, Andre Miller was the best at his position. Crowds didn't bother him. Pressure didn't bother him. Gary Colbert is bothered. This is not a knock on Colbert; he's in his first year of college ball. Miller struggled his first season as well, but he had Keith Van Horn and Michael Doleac to bail him out then. Colbert does not have a bailout guy. Alex Jensen is a great player, but has nowhere near the offensive game of Van Horn or ? Doleac. What about Hanno It depends on how the Finnish star is playing. More often than not, the softer side of Hanno Mottola shows up and prances around the court. He has a tendency to disappear in big moments, like the last 10 minutes of Saturday's loss to UNLV, when he had zero field goals. Colbert was unable to deal with UNLV's speedster point guard Mark Dickel. And he was clearly upset by the quicker Rebel defenders. He has talent, but without poise and experience, a point guard is pretty much as useless as one of the five giant 'Os' drawn up on the chalkboard when a coach is diagramming plays. A point guard needs to be a calming factor on his team. When the opposition is on a o run and the crowd is screaming 8-- for Ute blood to be passed around the arena like a sacrament, Colbert needs to grab his teammates and say, "Hey, we're better than this." More than that, Colbert needs to set up the offense, run a play Mot-tola- see WINN, page 14 Falcons Fly Loiv in Loss to XJ 30-Poi- nts Saturday night, the Falcons were the recipients of Utah's frustration, as the Utes stomped Air Force, Utah moves to and 1 in the MWC. Its only conference miscue was Thursday's overtime loss to New 85-4- 9. 15-- 5, 6-- Mexico. At the end of the first half, Utah was ahead 6 and the Falcons never had a chance to rally. Air Force has never been a threat to Utah and has not scared anyone in the 35-2- : Ait "' UNLV center Kaspsrs Kambala (left) took this rebound and held off Utah defender CHRONICLE SPORTS EDITOR league this season, winning only one game against San Diego State. Air Force has 14 players, but the majority of playing time is split between the starters. On average, the Falcon starters played 29.2 minutes in their loss to Utah. Against a team as deep as Utah, the Falcons were bound to wear down. LUah's versatility is what makes it a threat to every team and the reason the Utes are leading the MWC. In Thursday's game against New Mexico, the leading scorer was Lindsay Sodja, who tied her career high of 22 points while playing 26 minutes. You cannot defend yourselves against the unexpected. Opposing teams can expect Lauren Beckman and Katherine McColl to get physical with anyone inside the key. The opposition expects Amy Ewert to smother its leading scorer, and make her virtually helpless. It also expects Kristina Andersen and Lori Red to shoot the ball and usually score. It's what opposing teams do not expect that is killing their chances of catching the Utes. They don't expect Utah to have such a team. New Mexico well-round- MiHe Puiey. BRANDON WINN ed WINNCHRONICLE.UTAH.EDU 581-704- 1 Lauren Beckman nursed an ankle injury against the Falcons. made that mistake and Sodja made them pay. No one can expect to defend or stop Utah when any Ute can step up and make them look like fools. Against Air Force, it was Cariey Marshall who led the Utes by contributing 17 points in 17 minutes, making 6 from the field and 0 free throws. 4-- Marshall comes off the bench and has been a quiet player. No opposing team would have expected such a show from the freshman center. Four other Utes, Andersen, Ewert, Red, and Lindsay Herbert, scored in double digits. Red shot 9 and made 4 from behind the arc for a total of 13 points. 5-- 3-- see WOMEN, page 12 |
