BYU basketball: Going down with a fight

LAS VEGAS — Stop us if you've heard this one before.

BYU takes a double-digit, first-half lead over UNLV in the finals of the Mountain West Conference tournament, only to see the Rebels storm from behind with a second-half onslaught to win the MWC championship going away.

It happened Saturday afternoon at the Thomas & Mack Center, where the Rebels won their second consecutive MWC tournament championship over the Cougars with a 76-61 victory in a near-repeat of the 2007 title game.

A year ago on the same court, BYU watched an early 14-point lead wither away as an energetic Rebel team took control in the second half and won by eight.

The same thing happened Saturday, as the Rebels overcame an 11-point, first-half deficit, going on a 12-1 run to start the second half, and then held off a Cougar rally thanks to a barrage of 3-pointers by tournament MVP Wink Adams.

Adams was simply unstoppable for a two-minute, 18-second stretch late in the game when he scored 11 straight Rebel points, including three straight 3-pointers from the left side.

"He knocked down that first one and the next two or three he had in rhythm," said UNLV coach Lon Kruger. "I think everyone fully expected them to go in. Wink is not shy about stepping up there. I couldn't be happier for him."

Adams finished with a game-high 23 points, after having just nine points with seven minutes left. He actually scored 14 straight UNLV points when the game was decided.

"My teammates believed in me and told me to keep shooting," said Adams. "I was just able to knock them down for my team."

As far as BYU coach Dave Rose was concerned, it wasn't a matter of his players not guarding Adams.

"For the most part, he was just making big plays," he said. "We were contesting his shot. He was making big plays at a big time in the game."

The Cougars got a great game from freshman Jimmer Fredette, who scored a team-high 17 points off the bench. But he didn't get enough help as regular-season MVP Lee Cummard scored 11 points, including just two in the second half. Jonathan Tavernari had 10 points but only two after the first four minutes of the game, while Trent Plaisted finished with nine points on 2-of-6 shooting.

It looked good for the Cougars early as they jumped ahead and built a double-digit lead, with the margin as high as 11 at 23-12 with 10:22 left in the first half.