Mar 11, 2007, 3:35 GMT
Las Vegas, NV - Michael Umeh scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead 25th-ranked UNLV to it first Mountain West Conference Tournament title in seven years with a 78-70 win over 23rd-ranked Brigham Young at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Wink Adams added 15 points for the second-seeded Rebels (28-6), who last won the MWC tourney title in 2000. Kevin Kruger had 10 points and Gaston Essengue also had 10 points and registered seven rebounds for UNLV, which heads into the NCAA Tournament on a seven-game winning streak.
'Obviously this is what memories are good memories from this will be good for a long time. Happy for a lot of folks today,' said UNLV coach Lon Kruger, who became the fifth coach to take four teams to the NCAAs.
Keena Young had a game-high 34 points with nine rebounds for the conference's regular-season champion Cougars (25-8), who had a four-game win streak halted. Lee Cummard recorded 13 points and 13 rebounds for BYU, which failed to hold on to a 13-point second-half lead but will likely still earn an at-large berth into the NCAA tourney come Sunday.
The Cougars lost the game at the free throw line, hitting just 9-of-17 attempts. The Rebels went 16-of-20.
'Free throws were big,' Young said. 'We didn't make them when we should have. But, we have to keep playing hard.'
After Trent Plaisted's jumper put the Cougars ahead 41-28 early in the second half, the Rebels found their groove. UNLV embarked upon a 13-2 run to get back into the game. Kruger and Wendell White each scored four points during the surge, which White capped with a jumper nearly five minutes into the half to draw the Rebels within 44-41.
Later, a Joel Anthony jumper drew UNLV within 50-48 and Adams followed by giving the Rebels their first lead of the game, 51-50, with a three-pointer with 11:44 left.
The lead exchanged hands for the next four-plus minutes. Young hit only 1-of-2 free throws with 7:03 left to tie the game at 57 and with the game still tied, this time at 59, the Rebels went ahead for good.
A pair of free throws by Umeh broke the deadlock with 5:33 remaining, and after a Mike Rose three-point miss for BYU, Umeh extended the lead to 63-69 with a jumper at the 4:36 mark. Young again hit 1-for-2 from the line to draw the Cougars within 63-60 with 4:16 left, but Joe Darger gave UNLV a two- possession lead next time down the court when he drained a three-pointer.
The Rebels hung on from there as BYU never drew within one possession again.
The Cougars scored the first 10 points of the game and built themselves a 24-10 lead after Young's jumper with 9:42 left in the opening half. Cummard and Young combined for 15 of the 24 points for the Cougars, who cooled down a bit after that.
The Rebels scored seven straight points to get back into the game, but later on BYU scored the final seven points of the half to go into the break with a 37-26 advantage.
Young scored six of the final 11 points of the half for the Cougars and ended the first 20 minutes with 18 points.
Game Notes
This was a rematch of the first MWC Tournament title game back in 2000 that was won by the Rebels, 79-56...These two teams split a pair of regular-season meetings...UNLV has won 17 straight the Thomas & Mack Center, which is also the program's home floor...BYU was going for its first MWC title since 2001 when it beat New Mexico...UNLV improved to 2-3 in MWC title games.
© 2007 The Sports Network
Game Notes.
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