Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 15, 1993 TAG: 9302150039
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LAS VEGAS LENGTH: Medium
REBELS' RUN ENDS AT 59
It took Louisville's big men to put an end to Nevada-Las Vegas' big basketball home-court winning streak.Dwayne Morton scored 27 points and Clifford Rozier added 19 as the Cardinals dominated inside Sunday to take a 90-86 win and snap the nation's longest home winning streak at 59 games.
The loss was the first in more than four years at home for No. 12-ranked UNLV, which last lost at its campus arena Jan. 28, 1989, to Oklahoma.
"We were just a little too small at times," UNLV coach Rollie Massimino said. "Compared to them we were very, very small."
With UNLV starting no one bigger than 6-7 Evric Gray, Louisville took advantage of its inside height to lead by 16 points before a late UNLV rally pulled the Runnin' Rebels close.
Gray fouled out with 6:27 remaining and UNLV (16-3), with 6-5 J.R. Rider its biggest man on the court, could get no closer than four points the rest of the way in the nationally televised contest.
"I told our players we had a rare opportunity to put us in the limelight today," Louisville coach Denny Crum said. "They'll be talking about us breaking the 59-game winning streak across the nation tonight."
Louisville (14-6) outrebounded UNLV 44-38 in winning for the 12th time in its past 14 games.
More importantly, the Cardinals finally got a road win over a Top 25 team after three last-minute losses, including a 62-60 setback Thursday to Tulane.
"We lost three games we had a real good chance to win," Crum said. "We had not handled those situations exceptionally well. Today we did."
Rider led all scorers with 31 points and added 11 rebounds. Gray had 16 points for UNLV and Dexter Boney added 13.
"I thought we played an excellent game," Massimino said. "They're just a very, very good basketball team."
UNLV led through the first part of the first half until Rozier scored eight straight points to put Louisville on top 26-24. The spurt sparked a 27-6 run that put the Cardinals ahead by 15 points late in the half before UNLV closed to 49-37 at halftime.
Louisville opened the second half with two straight baskets to take its biggest lead, 53-37, but UNLV came right back with a 10-1 run to get back into the game before a screaming sold-out crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The Rebels trailed 59-56 after a 3-pointer by Ken Gibson with 12:00 remaining, but Louisville ran off another 9-0 streak to retake command.
"It was the kind of game I thought we'd win down the wire," Massimino said. "But the ball just didn't go down and they answered back with some very fine offensive plays."
UNLV, forced to shoot from the outside because of its height disadvantage, hit only seven of 26 3-point attempts, including two of 13 in the second half. Louisville hit six of the 16 3-pointers it attempted. \
see microfilm for box score