LAS VEGAS — Freshman guard Anthony Marshall led UNLV with 13 points and a season-best 12 rebounds and the Runnin’ Rebels avenged Utah’s regular-season sweep with a 73-61 victory in the Mountain West Conference quarterfinals Thursday night.
Tre’Von Willis also scored 13 points for the third-seeded Runnin’ Rebels (24-7), who will face 14th-ranked BYU in the semifinals Friday night. The second-seeded Cougars (29-4) defeated TCU.
Utah (14-17) trailed just 29-25 at halftime after consecutive 3-pointers by Luka Drca, Marshall Henderson and Chris Hines in the closing minutes.
But the Utes didn’t bring that momentum out of the locker room.
The Runnin’ Rebels used a 10-0 run to take a 41-30 lead in the opening minutes of the second half, the highlight of the run a spectacular slam dunk by Chace Stanback off a backcourt steal by Marshall.
The Utes swept the Runnin’ Rebels during conference play, winning 73-69 in Las Vegas in January and 66-61 in Salt Lake City last month. It was Utah’s first sweep of UNLV in five years.
The Runnin’ Rebels always play well in the conference tournament, though. Their all-time mark of 18-6 in the Mountain West Conference tourney is tops in the league.
UNLV’s loss to San Diego State in the quarterfinals last year, when Utah won the crown behind Luke Nevill, was the Runnin’ Rebels’ first opening-round loss in Mountain West Conference tournament history.
They led by as many as 21 points in the second half before the Utes, behind Carlon Brown’s 12 points and Drca’s 11, chipped away.
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