March 6, 2004

Joe Spilotro
Rebel-Net.com Photographer

BYU (20-7, 10-4 Mountain West) won their eighth straight game of the season when senior center Rafael Araujo scored on an assist from Luiz Lemes with 0.5 seconds remaining in the game to give the Cougars a hard fought 89-88 victory over the UNLV Runnin' Rebels.

UNLV (16-11, 7-7) regained the lead on the possession before Araujo's game winner when Odartey Blankson, who finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds, hit a 12 foot jumper from the left side to put the Rebels up 88-87 with 14.5 seconds remaining in the game.

The second half was a track meet where neither led by more than six points.  BYU last led by 6 with 12:54 remaining in the game after a Mike Hall layup while the Rebels biggest lead of the second half when J.K Edwards converted an easy layup on UNLV's first possession of the second half.

Rafael Araujo, who finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds, was sidelined for six minutes of the second half after punching UNLV's Jerel Blassingame in the face following a foul.  Blassingame was down for several minutes as the officials reviewed the tape and decided to assess Araujo a technical foul rather than an ejection.

BYU broke out early in the game hitting 4-6 three pointers and 9-12 overall in the first nine minutes to take a 23-14 lead.  UNLV rallied behind the strength of BYU turnovers to trim the Cougar lead.  UNLV managed to hold the Cougars scoreless over a four minute stretch to take a 46-44 advantage at the break.

Both teams shot over 50 percent from the field with BYU going 30-54 (.556) and UNLV hitting 32-55 (.582). The Cougars made 7-18 (.389) from beyond the arc, including 3-5 from Woodberry.  BYU also out-rebounded the Rebels 32-21, marking the 19th game of the season in which the Cougars have won the rebounding battle.

Blankson had 23 points and 10 rebounds for UNLV, while Blassingame added 17 points and 14 assists. J.K. Edwards added 16 for the Rebels and Romel Beck had 14.

Notes - BYU now leads the all time series with UNLV 9-8.  They are the only team in the MWC with a better than .500 record vs UNLV.....Odartey Blankson finished the season with his 18th double-double against the Cougars.  That's second best in the nation behind Connecticut's Emeka Okafor.....With eight double-doubles in conference, Blankson eclipses the record for most double-doubles in a conference season, surpassing Kaspars Kambala's seven.....Jerel Blassingame is averaging 10.5 assists per game under Jay Spoonhour including games of 14 and 13 in his last two.....UNLV next faces New Mexico in the first round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Denver.  Tip off is at 9:00 PM and can be seen on ESPN.  UNLV is 2-0 against New Mexico this year.
 

UNLV vs BYU Box Score