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Saturday, February 6, 2010 By Andrew Brannon In a matchup of the two players leading Mountain West Conference player of the Year honors, Tre'Von Willis got the upper hand.
Tre'Von Willis had a career high 33 points and 8 assists and Matt Shaw added 13 points including going 3-for-4 three pointers as UNLV (19-4, 7-2 MWC) pounded No. 12 BYU (22-3, 7-2 MWC) 88-74. UNLV never trailed as they jumped out to a 20-4 lead with 13:49 left in the first half. The boisterous sellout crowd of 18,557 never let up as the Rebels kept their foot on the gas. Matt Shaw made back-to-back three-pointers to give the Rebels a 36-13 lead. After a few scores by Tre'Von Willis and a steal and layup by Justin Hawkins, UNLV had their largest lead of the game at 47-18 with 5:13 remaining. UNLV led at halftime 56-34. BYU opened the second half on a 7-2 run. After Jonathan Tavernari made a layup and Jimmer Fredette made two free throws on the next play, Tre’Von Willis drove to the basket and got fouled by Noah Hartsock for the three-point play to lead 60-43. Jonathan Tavernari got hot scoring eight of his 16 points in the second half, but it wasn't enough. The Rebels sealed the deal when Oscar Bellfield nailed a three-pointer with 5:57 left to go up 82-62. Despite finishing with 21 points, UNLV harassed BYU star guard Jimmer Fredette all day. Willis, Stanback and Oscar Bellfield all had turns guarding Fredette. He was on his back a couple of times, once on a Brice Massamba screen and another time going to the basket. "Tre'Von's a great player," Jimmer Fredette said. "He got the best of us tonight, and he shot the ball really well and was confident going into this game. He did really well." Chace Stanback finished with 14 rebounds. UNLV shot 52% for the game and 63% from the free throw line. UNLV is at home against New Mexico Feb. 10. |
