Oh, how Utah State could have used three more points, like say on one of Darrel White's 3-point bombs in the final 10 seconds. Or perhaps three fewer points by Nevada-Las Vegas, which was handed three points on technical free throws thanks to a bomb of a different sort and a roll of toilet paper.
There was no such luck for the Aggies, who dropped their 17th straight game to the No. 2-ranked Rebels - this one by a mere two points, 84-82, Thursday night in the Spectrum.The difference in the game turned out to be three technical foul shots the Rebels made because of a few overzealous (and ingenious) Aggie fans. A toilet paper roll thrown on the floor in the opening minutes gave the Rebels one free point. A water bomb from a vent directly underneath the Rebel bench, which exploded at the start of the second half, gave UNLV two more points.
One plus two equals three, and that means a lot in a two-point game.
"I don't know whether that caused us to lose or not, that's all conjecture," said USU Coach Kohn Smith of the crowd technicals. "It was just that it took the game away from the players. And that's ridiculous. There's no call for that."
To grab their 25th win in 30 games, the Rebels had to overcome some terrific efforts by USU's Kendall Youngblood (19 points, 12 rebounds) and Randy Funk (15 points, 11 rebounds). They relied on the strong inside play of 6-7, 250-pound Larry Johnson (31 points, 10 rebounds) and 6-10 David Butler (24 points, 12 rebounds) with their guards on sabbatical (combined 6 for 28). The Rebels won the game from the foul line (27 of 35, compared to 11 of 18 for USU) after being outshot 49 to 39 percent and outrebounded, amazingly enough, 50 to 37.
The contest had been billed as USU-UNLV II, the rematch of the infamous game in Las Vegas a month earlier when the Rebels annihilated the Aggies on the basketball floor 124-90 and then fought to a draw in a postgame brawl, started by the Rebels.
Despite the hype created by the previous game, most everyone figured this would be a nice, congenial game where everyone would kiss and make up. Then the Rebels would toy with the Aggies before looking for another Big West victim.
Well, there weren't any fights and the play was no rougher than your average college basketball game. Afterward the players shook hands and shared a few hugs. The only "incidents" came from the capacity crowd of 10,270, which provided some nasty signs (one unprintable sign held afloat by helium balloons hovered near the east scoreboard most of the first half), a few chants ("Big West Mon-sters") and threw objects on the floor more than once. At least three fans had to be evicted by security.
But the most outrageous incident of the night and what had to be a first in sports history was the mysterious "Attack of the Colored Water" just as the second half was ready to begin.
UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian had sent his team on to the floor and just as he was sitting down, a gush of water looking like Old Faithful erupted from beneath the bench.
It left Tark soaking wet and his famous towel a strange shade of blue. The officials suspended the game, sent the teams to their locker rooms for five minutes while the mess was cleaned up, and huddled on the court. When it was determined that it was no accident (many in the upper press box were informed an oxygen tank had accidentally exploded), a technical was assessed to USU.
Tarkanian returned wearing a brown sweater over his undershirt. Several of the Vegas reserves had blue spots all over their warmups. Tark didn't know it was a set-up until he was told by writers afterward, and he seemed amused by it. "Really?" he said with a smile. "Whoever did it was pretty sharp."
Anyway, it was supposed to be the Aggies' ball at midcourt, but instead Larry Johnson sank two foul shots to make it 44-39 and the Rebels got the ball.
"It was our possession and we had a play set up we think we can score off," said USU's Smith. "It took away our possession and gave them the free throws . . . that was just too bad."
UNLV threatened to break the game open several times, the last with three straight baskets to take a 72-64 lead with 8:11 left. The Aggies hung tough and White's 3-pointer with 2:21 left made it 75-73. Anderson Hunt, who missed his first 11 shots, made a 10-footer, before a Youngblood trey made it 77-76. Anthony answered with a three and USU's Matt Barnes countered with another three, making it 80-79 with 1:05 left.
Johnson scored four straight for UNLV before White put in another trey with 26 seconds left to make it 84-82. After Anthony missed a free throw with 24 seconds left, USU called time to set up a final play.
Smith said the Aggies preferred a three-pointer because their foul trouble made overtime look bleak. They got it on a White shot from the left angle. When it missed, Youngblood had a couple of tips underneath before the ball got batted out to midcourt. White retrieved it, glanced at the clock and fired up a wild shot as the buzzer sounded.
"I thought it had a chance," said White.
"When it left his hand it looked good to me," said Tarkanian.
But the ball glanced off the rim, ending the crazy affair.
All day long it had seemed like Christmas Eve for Aggie fans, the anticipation was so great. A few Aggie students got in line at 5 a.m. to get the best seats (perhaps the triggermen for the exploding water bomb?). Some 12 hours later the Aggie students started flowing into the arena, filling up the student section in a hurry.
When the Aggies finally scored, 90 seconds into the game, a roll of toilet paper came flying out of the stands onto the floor. Two years ago this was an Aggie tradition - now it is an NCAA violation (hey, the culprit probably hadn't been to a game in two years). Greg Anthony sank one of the two technical shots and it was 6-2.
The lead reached 10 at 14-4 before the Aggies stormed back to cut it to two. Then UNLV moved out to a 33-21 lead and the game began to resemble the rout in Las Vegas. But sparked by back-to-back 3-pointers by Rich Jardine, the Aggies went on a 16-3 run to grab the lead at 37-36 with 3:35 left. UNLV came back to lead at the half, 42-39, as USU didn't even get a final shot off.
USU athletic director Rod Tueller, who had been concerned all week about keeping things under control for the game, was not amused by the water bomb incident and vowed to get to the bottom of it. He also lamented on the impact a couple of non-basketball incidents may have had on the outcome.
"A roll of toilet paper and a water bomb . . . and you lose a ball game."