Late Stops Help the Rebels Advance

UNLV Will Face Wisconsin, Which Got a Scare from Texas A& M-Corpus Christi

UNLV's Kevin Kruger drives baseline and looks to kick the ball out as the Georgia Tech defense closes in. (Jonathan Daniel - Getty Images)

CHICAGO, March 16 -- Nevada-Las Vegas guard Wink Adams's annoyance of Georgia Tech's Javaris Crittenton in the Runnin' Rebels' 67-63 first-round victory Friday in the Midwest Region of the NCAA tournament did not produce any tangible benefit until the game's closing minutes.

With 1 minute 13 seconds remaining and the score tied at 59, Adams dived across the baseline and knocked the ball out of bounds off Crittenton.

"I could see Crittenton was going to let it go out of bounds, so I had to sacrifice my own body," said Adams, who scored 13 points.

Off the ensuing inbound pass, Rebels guard Wendell White scored on a layup to give UNLV a lead it would not relinquish. He finished with 19 points, tied for the game high with teammate Michael Umeh.

"It wasn't a game where the percentages, shooting-wise, were that great, but the effort was there on the boards," said UNLV Coach Lon Kruger, whose Rebels won their eighth straight and advanced to face second-seeded Wisconsin on Sunday.

Georgia Tech (20-12) shot 41 percent compared with 31.7 percent for UNLV (29-6), and the Yellow Jackets lost the rebounding battle by only a slight margin (44-41).

The Runnin' Rebels built a 14-point first-half lead by taking shots early in their possessions. As the half wore on, UNLV committed turnovers as it attempted to make the extra pass and saw its lead diminish as a result.

The Yellow Jackets went on a 9-2 run to end the first half and a 7-2 run out of the intermission, but they never could transform those efforts into a stable lead.

"In a game like this that was very close, it comes down to little things like boxing out, getting the rebound and getting the loose ball, especially on defense," Georgia Tech guard Mario West said. "Unfortunately, it cost us the game, and that is very tough to swallow."

Anthony Morrow and Alade Aminu both scored 11 points to lead the Yellow Jackets.

Crittenton had eight points and six assists but never could separate himself from Adams. After White's go-ahead layup near the end of regulation, Adams's tight defense on Crittenton near half court drew a five-second violation.

"When you scout people, you try to sniff out the teams that are feel-good teams, which means if you put a run on them, you can put them away," Georgia Tech Coach Paul Hewitt said in his postgame news conference as the next game got under way.

? WISCONSIN 76, TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI 63: Hewitt was talking about his Yellow Jackets, but he might as well have been forecasting the Islanders' plight. The No. 15 seed, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi held a 25-7 lead with 5:29 to go in the first half. However, the Badgers mounted a 21-7 run in the second half and held on.

"I'm glad when they set this game up, they did it in halves," Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan said. "They won the first 15 minutes pretty handily, and we won the next 25."

Wisconsin guard Kammron Taylor and forward Alando Tucker led the Badgers' comeback with 24 and 23 points, respectively.

The Islanders held the lead until 9:35 remained in the game, when Taylor hit a midrange jumper.

"I think in the second half, they wore us down by pounding," Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Coach Ronnie Arrow said. "We didn't get near enough stops like we did in the first half."

Chris Daniels led the Islanders with 20 points.