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Another conference tournament run for the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels ended in the quarterfinals once despite a valiant effort to send the game into overtime.
San Diego State beat UNLV, 74-71, Thursday, March 14 from the Thomas & Mack Center on the second day of the Mountain West Championship. The meeting was the third and final meeting this season that served as the rubber match after both teams won on its homecourt during the regular season.
“The ups and downs,” head coach Kevin Kruger said. “But at the same time finishing with momentum, a lot of positivity, a lot of great support. Yeah, these guys dealt with a lot, especially early on.”
If no more games are left to be played for the program, the Rebels end the year with back-to-back losses after winning 10 of 11 in order to shoot up the Mountain West standings. As it currently stands, the team posted a 19-12 overall record this year while racking up four ranked wins.
“As a senior, I just want to keep playing with my guys,” fifth-year forward Keylan Boone said. “Over time you build a ten months to a year relationship with these guys, and it goes bigger than basketball. I just want to be able to keep being around the teammates, keep being around the coaches, because it's more than just basketball.”
Freshman guard Dedan Thomas Jr. missed a chance to send the game into a second overtime after his buzzer-beating three-point prayer clanked off the front of the rim. On the final UNLV possession of regulation, he sent the game into overtime with a tough finish in the lane.
“Coach told me to go get a bucket,” he said. “Keylan set a great screen to get that switch on me. I felt like I had a great mismatch on me, and I felt like I had a great chance of getting the basket.”
Thomas scored the team’s first eight points of the game on his way to a career-high 29 points on 48% shooting. Earlier this week, he was named the conference’s Freshman Player of the Year.
“Just another great game for him,” Kruger said. “Shouldered a lot of the burden this year, which was something in discussions all the way through recruitment about what it was going to be like. A lot of opportunities, a lot of expectations, and a lot of opportunity for growth.”
The first 19 points for the Rebels were scored by Thomas and fifth-year guard Justin Webster, who hit three three-pointers in the first half including back-to-back longballs about midway through the frame.
Webster finished with 14 points in 18 minutes off-the-bench.
Boone came alive late to finish with 17 points including hitting some big shots when UNLV needed it. He cashed in on a three during a 7-0 run by the team near the midway point of the second half. He started the game missing his first five shot attempts in the game.
Keylan’s twin brother Kalib tried to give it a go despite being ruled out of the contest yesterday. He came off the bench and would only play 59 seconds before heading back to the bench and not returning to the floor.
“It was huge,” Keylan said. “We asked him could he go? That wasn't the case. As we look towards our full team, we just have to pick up for him.”
Junior Rob Whaley Jr. went down momentarily early in the second half and would head straight to the locker room. Not long after, he’d return to the bench and eventually to the game.
Whaley was needed immensely for the matchup against San Diego State’s Jaedon LeDee, who finished with 34 points and 16 rebounds. LeDee was also fouled 17 times en route to 11-for-18 from the free throw line.
In totality, UNLV was outrebounded by 29 including a 25-9 mark in the offensive rebounds category. Those offensive boards led to 20 second chance points for the fifth seeded SDSU team.
“KB had a really productive and impactful game against San Diego State last week, but it's the middle of March,” Kruger said. “There's injuries across the board. There's guys that are beat up.”
Coming out of the halftime break with a five-point lead, the Rebels committed four turnovers in the first six minutes of the half. Several of those turnovers were committed directly after timeouts.
In total, the team turned the ball over 13 times which contributed to 11 fast break points the other way.
“I would have to go back and watch specifically, but San Diego State is not a top-10 defense by accident,” Kruger said. “A lot of this stuff you run against them doesn't work. They're an elite defense.”
Just before halftime, Keylan launched an inbounds pass from underneath San Diego State’s basket near the halfcourt line which was caught and stolen by the opposition. Guard Darrion Trammell turned the turnover into three-points on the first made three of the game by SDSU.
“A bone-headed play by me,” Keylan said. “It wasn't really any real great shot we could have got, especially with our backs turned towards me and away from the rim. I was just trying to force a play that wasn't there.”
On the way to the three-point final margin of victory, the Aztecs took 19 more field goal attempts than the opposing Rebels.